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>Va 


PRESENTED  BY  ALDERMAN  WIT.  II.  CORNELL. 


McSPEDON    &    BAKER, 


E 

3M-O 


0f  5Utonutt. 


Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  of  the  Common  Council  cause 
to  be  published,  in  an  appropriate  manner,  the  report  of 
the  Committee  of  Arrangements  on  the  obsequies  of  the 
Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  late  United  States  Senator. 

D.  T.  VALENTINE,  Clerk. 


HE  JOINT  SPECIAL  COMMITTEE  of  the 
Common  Council,  appointed  to  make 
arrangements  for  rendering  a  suitable 
testimony  of  respect  to  the  memory  of 

the  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  late  United  States  Senator  from 

the  State  of  Kentucky,  respectfully 


of 


That  they  entered  upon  the  performance  of  the  melancholy 
duty  assigned  them,  appreciating  its  high  consideration, 
its  sacred  trust  and  arduous  responsibilities,  with  a  sin- 
cere conviction  of  its  importance;  conscious  that,  however 
assiduously  their  duties  might  be  performed,  no  additional 
lustre  would  be  attached  to  the  memory  of  the  great  man 
whose  death  the  united  voice  of  the  American  people 
deplores. 

Your  Committee  deem  it  highly  proper  that  something 
more  than  a  superficial  notice  of  the  events  of  the  day 
should  be  recorded  in  connection  with  their  report  of 
the  obsequies  of  the  man  whose  name  stands  first 
among  the  giant  intellects  of  our  great  statesmen.  Long 
as  we  had  expected  the  event  of  his  demise,  and  prepared 
as  the  whole  country  should  have  been  for  its  announce- 
ment, we  find  ourselves  wholly  unfitted  to  record  the  sad 
intelligence.  A  great  and  good  man  has  fallen.  A  nation 
mourns  at  his  bier,  and  laments  the  loss  of  one  who,  in  its 
greatest  perils,  has  been  its  savior.  One  so  far  above  and 
beyond  ordinary  men;  so  pure  in  public  life;  so  unselfish 
and  disinterested  in  his  private  life;  so  excellent  a  husband; 
so  good  a  father;  so  faithful  a  friend,  and  so  bold  and  inflex- 
ible a  patriot,  that  we  feel  entirely  unable  to  speak  of 
him  according  to  his  worth. 

HENRY  CLAY  was  a  man  to  mark  the  age  in  which  he 
lived.  His  mind  was  a  fitting  counterpart  of  the  whole 
casket  in  which  it  was  enshrined.  His  manners  were 
graceful  and  impressive.  Those  who  came  in  contact  with 
him  felt  the  charm  of  his  influence;  and  this  attachment  of 
his  friends  grew  upon  them,  till  no  political  misfortune 
could  remove  it.  They  were  his  friends  in  prosperity 
and  in  the  prospect  of  power,  but  more  his  friends  in  ad- 


ifenlri|6lqu. 


versity.  Nature  had  formed  him  in  her  finest  mould,  and 
had  stamped  him  with  the  seal  of  her  own  nobility.  The 
heart  of  the  nation  throbs  with  melancholy  emotions  at 
the  departure,  from  the  field  of  his  glories,  of  the  man 
whom  the  whole  world  revered  as  a  patriot,  from  his  innate 
love  of  country — as  a  statesman,  from  intuition  and  from 
practice — as  a  philanthropist,  from  pure  benevolence  and  a 
love  of  liberty.  The  dignified  graces  of  Mr.  CLAY'S  char- 
acter can  best  be  appreciated  by  those  who  knew  him  in 
the  private  walks  of  life.  His  impulses  were  generous  and 
disinterested.  He  had  an  utter  scorn  of  all  that  was  sor- 
did, selfish  or  deceitful.  He  who  could  say,  "I  would  rather 
be  right  than  be  President,"  was  not  likely  to  hold  in  high 
esteem  those  whose  ambition  was  unregulated  by  principle, 
or  whose  moral  sense  was  facile  to  the  moulding  touch  of 
self-interest.  His  eminent  services  in  the  councils  of  the 
nation,  rendered  during  a  series  of  more  than  fifty  years, 
(a  circumstance  with  few  parallels  in  the  annals  of  the 
world,)  will  ever  adorn  the  brightest  pages  of  American 
history.  The  purity  of  his  motives,  his  stern  and  unre- 
lenting intrepidity  for  his  country's  rights  and  her  glory, 
will  forever  exist  with  fervency  and  freshness  in  the  mem- 
ory of  a  grateful  people.  When  foreign  outrage  left  his 
country  no  alternative  but  disgrace,  or  a  resort  to  arms, 
he  was  found  among  the  foremost  to  maintain  the  dignity 
and  honor  of  his  country.  Born  and  cradled  amid  the 
excitement  of  the  Revolution,  the  first  songs  which  the  ears 
of  his  childhood  heard,  were  those  which  the  struggle  for 
freedom  inspired.  The  important  period  through  which 
he  has  lived  in  such  prominence  befor.e  the  world,  will  ever 
render  his  memory  inseparable  from  the  history  of  his 
country.  As  in  future  years  the  results  of  civil  and  re- 

7 


0bs»»c)i|ies  of 


ligious  liberty  in  South  America  shall  glow  with  increas- 
ing brightness,  their  fires  shall  add  new  lustre  to  the  name 
of  him  who  was  the  early  and  ardent  advocate  of  their 
rights.  As  long  as  the  heroism  of  Greece  shall  be  admired, 
and  the  garlands  of  her  poets  endure,  so  long  shall  the 
name  of  HENRY  CLAY  be  cherished  by  every  heart  that 
beats  in  unison  with  the  pantings  of  liberty. 

His  intellect  was  expansive  and  comprehensive;  his  elo- 
quence vigorous,  and,  to  an  extraordinary  degree,  fascinat- 
ing and  persuasive  ;  his  heart  brave  and  honest ;  his  affec- 
tions warm  and  pure,  and  his  patriotism  ardent,  devoted 
and  disinterested.  When  the  factions  and  calumnies  of 
the  present  day  are  past  by,  succeeding  generations  will 
pronounce  a  grateful  eulogy  upon  his  public  services,  and 
rank  him  among  the  most  distinguished  public  benefac- 
tors. Posterity  will  then  pronounce,  with  equal  truth  and 
justice,  "during  the  course  of  a  long  and  arduous  public 
life,  he  made  his  country's  interests  the  end  and  aim  of  his 
exertions.  He  never  sacrificed  a  principle  to  secure  the 
favor  of  a  party,  or  yielded  an  opinion  from  the  fear  of 
its  unpopularity.  He  sought  first  and  principally  the  ex- 
tension of  republican  freedom,  and  as  the  best  means  of 
securing  it,  labored  with  all  the  energy  of  his  eloquence, 
to  maintain  unimpaired  the  union  of  the  states.  He  incor- 
porated himself  with  no  party  that  regarded  the  general 
government  in  the  light  of  an  unwieldy  and  inert  mass, 
powerless  of  good;  but  supported  the  true  theory  which 
regards  the  union  as  an  active  and  vivifying  principle, 
pervading  all  sections,  cementing  them  together  by  the  ties 
of  mutual  interest  and  convenience,  and  availing  itself  of 
its  great  resources  to  produce  the  most  certain  and  expe- 
ditious communication  between  them." 


Your  Committee,  in  view  of  the  foregoing  suggestions 
have  compiled,  from'authentic  and  reliable  sources,  a  sum- 
mary of  the  proceedings  at  Washington,  from  the  hour 
of  his  death;  along  the  route;  in  this  city,  and  until  the 
arrival  of  the  body  at  Lexington,  Kentucky,  its  final  rest- 
ing place;  estimating  a  full  record  of  all  the  transactions 
as  valuable  reminiscences  for  future  reference,  and  adopted 
as  a  slight  testimony  of  the  appreciation  entertained  of 
his  many  virtues,  his  eminent  services,  and  patriotic  devo- 
tion to  his  country. 


3nnunntcnwtt  0f  %  gtatlj  0f  Jjerorg  Clag. 

HENRY  CLAY  died  in  Washington  City,  D.  C.,  on  Tues- 
day, June  29th,  1852,  at  seventeen  minutes  past  eleven 
o'clock,  in  the  seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age.  His  death 
was  announced  in  this  city,  by  telegraph,  about  half  past 
eleven  o'clock,  A.  M.  The  sad  news  was  soon  spread  to  all 
parts  of  the  city.  .  All  the  public  buildings,  places  of 
amusement,  the  shipping  in  the  harbor,  and  every  flag-staff 
immediately  displayed  the  American  flag  at  half  mast,  and 
a  melancholy  gloom  was  thrown  over  the  whole  city.  The 
courts,  immediately  on  receipt  of  the  sad  intelligence,  de- 
livered eloquent  eulogies,  and  adopted  resolutions  expres- 
sive of  the  deep  sympathy  entertained  for  the  deceased, 
and  all  public  meetings,  as  an  evidence  of  respect  for  his 
memory,  adjourned.  Measures  were  also  immediately  taken 
for  convening  the  Common  Council,  for  the  purpose  of 
adopting  suitable  arrangements  expressive  of  the  high  es- 
teem in  which  the  memory  of  the  distinguished  dead  is  held, 


CHs  Allies  of 


and  of  rendering  such  public  demonstrations  as  are  usually 
called  for,  by  the  citizens  generally,  upon  similar  occasions. 

On  the  day  of  Mr.  CLAY'S  death  at  Washington,  the 
President  of  the  United  States  issued  the  annexed  circular 
to  the  several  Heads  of  Departments  : 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
TUESDAY,  HALF  PAST  12  O'CLOCK,  p.  M. 
SIR  :  —  The  tolling  bells  announce  the  death  of  the  Hon. 
HENRY  CLAY.     Though  this  event  has  been  long  antici- 
pated, yet  the  painful  bereavement  could  never  be  fully 
realized.     I  am  sure  all  hearts  are  at  this  moment  too  sad 
to  attend  to  business  ;   and  I  therefore  respectfully  sug- 
gest that  your  department  be  closed  for  the  remainder  of 
the  day. 

MILLARD  FILLMORE. 

Both  branches  of  the  Common  Council  were  convened  on 
the  next  day,  when  the  following  proceedings  were  had  : 


0f  tin  C0mm,an 


BOARD  OF  ALDERMEN, 

JUNE  30,  1852. 

PRESENT  —  Richard  T.  Compton,  Esq.,  President;  Abraham 
Moore,  Dudley  Haley,  John  Boyce,  William  M.  Tweed, 
William  J.  Brisley,  Charles  Francis,  Wesley  Smith, 
Daniel  F.  Tiemann,  James  M.  Bard,  S.  L.  H.  Ward, 
Asahel  A.  Denman,  William  H.  Cornell. 
The  President  announced  that  the  Board  was  convened 

by  the  Mayor,  pursuant  to  a  request  made  by  a  majority 

of  the  members  elected. 

10 


The  following  message  was  received  from  his  Honor  the 
Mayor,  announcing  the  death  of  the  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY: 

MAYOR'S  OFFICE, 
NEW  YORK,  JUNE  30th,  1852. 

To  the  Honorable  the  Common  Council: 

GENTLEMEN  : — The  nation  is  called  on  to  mourn  the  loss 
of  one  of  her  wisest  and  best  sons.  HENRY  CLAY,  the  de- 
voted patriot,  the  enlightened  statesman,  the  eloquent 
orator,  is  no  more.  After  a  lingering  and  painful  illness, 
he  closed  a  long  and  eventful  life,  leaving  behind  him  a 
name  which  will  be  cherished  and  admired,  wherever  the 

English  tongue  is  spoken,  as  the  champion  of  freedom 

the  defender  of  the  oppressed.  His  death  is  not  merely  a 
national  loss,  but  throughout  the  world  the  friends  of 
freedom  will  mourn  it.  Long  years  of  devotion  to  his 
country's  welfare,  and  unceasing  efforts  for  her  advance- 
ment, have  secured  to  him  the  gratitude  and  affection  of 
his  countrymen  and  friends,  as  warm  and  true  as  man 
could  ever  claim.  But  I  need  not  speak  of  Mr.  CLAY'S 
character  or  services — they  are  inscribed,  in  letters  of  im- 
perishable glory,  on  the  pages  of  our  country's  history. 

I  make  the  official  announcement  of  his  death,  assured 
that  the  representatives  of  the  first  commercial  city  of  the 
Western  world,  will  testify  their  regard  for  the  memory 
of  the  departed  patriot  and  sage,  by  such  measures  as  are 
adapted  to  the  mournful  occasion. 

A.  C.  KINGSLAND,  Mayor. 
Which  was  accepted,  and  ordered  on  file. 

In  connection  with  the  above,  Alderman  CORNELL  pre- 
sented the  following  preamble  and  resolutions  : 

11 


Whereas,  The  melancholy  and  afflicting  intelligence  has 
been  officially  communicated  to  this  Board,  that  death  has 
closed  the  mortal  career  of  the  illustrious  HENRY  CLAY, 
United  States  Senator,  the  renowned  statesman,  the  ac- 
complished diplomatist,  and  the  eloquent  orator;  and 

Whereas,  It  is  befitting  us,  as  a  great  and  free  nation, 
possessing  a  warm  and  ardent  appreciation  of  the  virtuous 
and  patriotic  services  of  the  illustrious  men  of  the  re- 
public, while  living,  and  that,  when  an  all-wise  Providence, 
in  his  infinite  wisdom,  deems  it  necessary  to  call  from  this 
earthly  pilgrimage,  one  of  its  most  eminent  personages,  we 
deeply  feel  the  oppressing  sadness  that  surrounds  us — and 
that,  in  the  demise  of  HENRY  CLAY,  we  fully  realize  a  na- 
tion's bereavement.  Not  only  have  his  virtues  and  talents 
endeared  him  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  but  to 
the  whole  world,  who  will,  with  melancholy  cheerfulness, 
render  to  his  memory  their  unanimous  tribute  of  respect. 
The  justly  renowned,  but  lamented  HENRY  CLAY,  has,  from 
his  indomitable  energy,  his  accomplished  statesmanship, 
and  his  diplomatic  ability,  occupied,  in  the  councils  of  the 
nation,  the  highest  positions  of  honor  for  more  than  half  a 
century.  His  heroic  conduct,  through  a  long  and  useful 
life,  entirely  devoted  to  the  service  of  his  country,  will 
forever  serve  as  a  bright  example  for  the  present  and  fu- 
ture generations.  His  noble  and  disinterested  love  of 
country  has  stamped  him  emphatically  one  of  the  greatest 
men  of  his  time.  His  glowing  sentiments  of  patriotism 
knew  no  South,  no  North,  no  East,  no  West.  He  was 
generous  without  ostentation,  thoroughly  republican  in  his 
sentiments,  and  simple  in  his  manners,  winning  respect  and 
golden  opinions  everywhere,  among  the  virtuous  and  good, 
by  the  calm  dignity  and  urbanity  of  his  deportment. 

12 


ij-e^ij  eisijj. 


Dearly  beloved  in  his  family  circle,  and  by  all  who  had 
daily  or  occasional  intercourse  with  him,  he  has  left  be- 
hind him  a  name  that  future  generations  will  revere  and 
bless. 

When  the  sombre  clouds  of  fanaticism,  with  their  dark, 
foreboding  aspect,  threatened  our  country's  peace,  the  great 
champion  of  human  freedom,  notwithstanding  he  had,  like 
the  venerable  CINCINNATUS,  retired  from  the  turmoils  of 
public  life,  came  forth  again  at  his  country's  call,  once 
more  buckling  on  the  mighty  armor  of  conciliation,  sac- 
rificing all  factions  of  party,  dispelling  the  aspirations  of 
sectional  dissensions  for  the  preservation  and  perpetuity 
of  our  glorious  constitution  and  the  Union;  and  thus  we 
find  him  expiring  at  the  capital  of  the  nation,  among  the 
representatives  of  this  wide  extended  republic.  His 
powerful  and  comprehensive  mind,  ardently  enlisted  in 
the  cause  of  his  country,  was  ever  ready  to  assist  in  pro- 
moting its  glory,  usefulness,  and  indissolubility.  He  was 
enraptured  with  profound  respect  and  love  for  the  princi- 
ples of  our  republican  and  moral  institutions,  many  of 
which  acknowledge,  with  paternal  gratitude,  numberless 
favors  from  his  fostering  care.  But  the  sun  of  his  personal 
usefulness  has  forever  set,  and  the  nation  will  long  deplore 
his  loss.  His  deeds,  like  the  everlasting  hills,  will  stand 
as  noble  examples  to  guide  posterity  in  promoting  the  best 
interests  of  our  happy  Union  ;  therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  chambers  of  the  respective  Boards  of 
the  Common  Council  be  draped  in  mourning,  and  remain 
so  for  ninety  days;  that  the  members  wear  the  usual  badge 
of  mourning  for  the  same  period;  that  it  be  earnestly  rec- 
ommended to  the  citizens  to  close  their  places  of  business 
on  the  day  of  the  funeral  obsequies;  that  the  proprietors 

13 


OT 


of  public  places,  and  owners  of  ships  and  other  vessels,  be 
requested  to  hoist  their  flags  at  half  mast  during  the  day. 

Resolved,  That  a  Committee  of  seven  members  from  each 
Board,  together  with  the  President  thereof,  be  appointed 
to  carry  out  the  foregoing  preamble  and  resolution,  and  to 
make  all  such  arrangements  as  they  may  think  advisable 
and  proper. 

Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  of  the  Common  Council  be  di- 
rected to  transmit  a  certified  copy  of  the  foregoing  pream- 
ble and  resolutions  to  the  family  of  the  deceased  patriot. 

Which  were  unanimously  adopted,  and  Aldermen  COR- 
NELL, SMITH,  BEISLEY,  TWEED,  BAED,  WARD  and  BOYCE, 
together  with  the  President,  appointed  such  Committee  on 
the  part  of  this  Board. 

Alderman  WILLIAM  M.  TWEED,  of  the  Seventh  Ward, 
seconded  the  motion  of  Alderman  CORNELL,  and  said, — 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  : — Our  whole  country  is  again  in  tears ! 
Scarcely  were  the  remains  of  the  lamented  CALHOUN  cold 
in  the  tomb,  ere  another  brilliant  and  magnanimous  states- 
man has  gone  to  his  silent  and  eternal  repose !  "  When 
sorrows  come,  they  come  not  in  single  spies,  but  in  battal- 
ions," said  one  of  old,  whose  wisdom  I  fully  realize  on  this 
mournful  occasion. 

Sir,  I  trust  that  I  love  the  glorious  principles  of  democ- 
racy as  life  itself ;  but  I  thank  God  that  I  am  American 
enough  never  to  forget  those  who  never  forgot  their  coun- 
try. Those  great  Americans,  who  have  literally  worn 
themselves  out  in  the  public  service,  I  will  ever  hold  in 
grateful  remembrance,  regardless  of  their  political  or  re- 
ligious creed. 


The  great  fathers  of  the  Revolution  were  chiefly  super- 
seded by  JACKSON,  CALHOUN,  CLAY  and  WEBSTER,  to 
whom  our  mighty  destinies  have  been  mainly  intrusted 
during  the  present  century.  The  lot  of  these  illustrious 
men  was  wisely  cast  in  States,  whose  domestic  institutions 
and  local  interests,  were,  in  many  respects,  widely  dissim- 
ilar. But  they  all  realized  that  they  breathed  the  same 
national  air, — all  amicably  met  in  the  same  national  coun- 
cil,— and  all  watched,  with  sleepless  eyes,  the  common 
welfare  of  their  beloved  country.  WEBSTER  alone  remains, 
like  the  last  leaf  of  a  withered  foliage.  JACKSON,  "  whose 
eye,  in  battle,  flashed  like  a  rifle,  and  whose  voice  drowned 
the  cannon,"  was  first  gathered  to  his  fathers.  CALHOUN, 
whose  eagle  eye,  compressed  lip,  and  prophetic  voice  com- 
manded the  admiration  of  his  countrymen,  followed  the 
wise  and  courageous  JACKSON.  And  now  we  are  sum- 
moned to  the  mausoleum  of  HENRY  CLAY  1 

On  this  solemn  occasion,  it  affords  me  a  melancholy 
pleasure  to  briefly  scan  the  past.  Being  probably  the 
youngest  member  of  this  body,  I  cannot  be  supposed  to 
have  long  mingled  in  public  affairs,  but,  with  all  deference, 
I  trust  that  I  am  tolerably  familiar  with  our  national  his- 
tory, and  that  I  am  especially  familiar  with  the  lives  of 
JEFFERSON  and  HAMILTON,  those  great  intellectual  giants 
of  the  Revolution,  who  laid  the  eternal  foundation  of  the 
two  leading  political  parties  of  our  country.  And  it  has 
been  my  happy  fortune  to  be  a  living  witness  of  a  moiety 
of  the  public  career  of  JACKSON  and  CALHOUN,  (the  warm 
admirers  of  JEFFERSON,)  and  of  CLAY,  a  devoted  disciple 
of  HAMILTON.  Now,  although  they  all  widely  differed  on 
those  great  national  questions  that  have  divided  and  dis- 
tracted the  country  during  most  of  the  present  century, 

13 


06  series  o; 


yet  they  all  profoundly  loved  their  country,  and  strove  to 
surpass  each  other  in  their  enthusiastic  efforts  to  perpetu- 
ate our  glorious  institutions  to  the  remotest  period. 

Sir,  with  what  national  pride  should  we  all  contemplate 
the  youthful  JACKSON,  when,  at  the  peril  of  instant  death, 
he  hurled  defiance  at  the  British  officer  who  commanded 
him  to  black  his  boots,  while  in  captivity.  Again,  behold 
him,  with  his  knapsack,  in  his  solitary  march  from  Caro- 
lina to  Tennessee,  in  search  of  a  forest  home, — as  Judge 
and  Representative, — a  Senator  with  JEFFERSON,  in  '96, 
listening  to  the  wise  counsels  of  that  illustrious  statesman; 
contending  hand  to  hand,  and  foot  to  foot,  with  the  South 
Western  Indians, — at  the  battle  of  New  Orleans, — the 
twice-elected  president  of  the  freest,  happiest,  and  might- 
iest nation  in  the  whole  journey  of  the  sun, — utterly  de- 
stroying a  gigantic  national  moneyed  institution,  because 
he  conceived  it  to  be  a  deadly  foe  to  democratic  liberty; 
a  man  who  loved  and  served  his  country  with  all  the  zeal 
and  fidelity  of  the  immortal  WASHINGTON. 

Now  behold  the  timid  and  thoughtful  CALHOUN,  while 
a  New  England  student,  as  he  enters  the  legislature  of 
South  Carolina,  a  mere  youth, — in  the  halls  of  Congress, 
and  in  the  front  rank  as  an  orator  and  statesman, — his  en- 
ergy and  patriotism  during  our  country's  second  struggle 
with  Great  Britain, — resisting  the  adoption,  by  Congress, 
of  the  tariff,  abolition,  and  overshadowing  monetary 
schemes  of  northern  and  western  statesmen, — in  his  mem- 
orable collision  with  JACKSON,  on  nullification, — in  the 
Senate,  breasting  the  wide-spread  bankruptcy  of  ;37,  and 
restoring  order  out  of  chaos, — his  great  ability  as  Chief 
of  the  War  and  State  Departments, — his  masterly  diplo- 
macy in  the  acquisition  of  Texas, — his  dying  efforts  on  the 

16 


floor  of  the  Senate;  and  in  all  we  behold  the  deep  and 
thrilling  eloquence  of  DEMOSTHENES,  the  wisdom  of  JEF- 
FERSON, and  the  patriotism  of  JACKSON. 

And  now  behold  HENRY  CLAY,  in  the  mill  of  Hanover, 
a  poor  boy, — as  he  scales  the  Alleghanies  in  pursuit  of  a 
new  abode  in  the  wilds  of  Kentucky, — in  the  legislature  of 
his  adopted  state, — in  the  lower  House  of  Congress,  on 
the  leading  Committee,  and  Speaker  at  several  consecu- 
tive sessions, — as  the  advocate  of  peace  abroad,  and  of 
peace  at  home,  both  in  the  private  and  public  arena; 
whose  burning  eloquence  in  the  Senate  assembly,  paralyzed 
the  conspirators  against  the  liberties  of  his  country.  Now, 
although  I  opposed,  and  ever  shall,  the  leading  features  of 
his  national  policy,  yet  I  always  admired  his  sterling  pa- 
triotism, his  powerful  eloquence,  and  his  earnest  advoca- 
tion  of  what  he  conceived  to  be  essential  to  his  country's 
welfare. 

Mr.  President,  and  members  of  the  Common  Council  of 
New  York  :  Where  are  the  men  to  fill  the  vacant  seats  of 
these  exalted  statesmen  ?  Alas  !  they  do  not  exist.  But 
men  of  kindred  genius  will  again  arise  among  us,  if  we  are 
true  to  the  God  of  liberty  and  of  nations, — if  we  are  true 
to  that  beneficent  Being,  who  bore  us  in  triumph  through 
the  bloody  scenes  of  the  Revolution,  and  who  has  so  faith- 
fully guarded  our  liberties  to  this  remote  day.  JACKSON, 
CALHOUN,  CLAY  !  let  the  verdure  of  their  graves  forever 
bloom,  and  emit  undying  fragrance.  Forever  let  their  sa- 
cred memory  be  green  in  our  hearts.  Forever  let  us 
gratefully  remember  their  noble  deeds,  and  impart  them 
to  our  children,  as  worthy  of  their  highest  emulation.  Let 
those  now  on  the  stage  of  human  action,  closely  imitate 
their  spotless  example  and  their  incredible  sacrifices  from 

2  17 


of 


youth  to  age.  Let  us  profoundly  cherish  the  precious 
relics  of  political  wisdom  they  have  bequeathed  us,  and 
adopt  them  as  genial  sunlight  in  our  pilgrimage  through 
the  dark  and  untrodden  future.  Let  us  do  all  this,  and 
God  will  bless  us  (as  worthy  of  his  continued  protection) 
with  another  brilliant  galaxy  of  mighty  spirits,  to  guard 
us  against  those,  within  and  without  our  borders,  who 
would  effect  our  country's  ruin. 

Three  noble  oaks  are  fell'd  at  last, 

That  stood  erect  so  many  years, 
'Neath  summer  skies,  and  winter's  blast, 

Falling  amid  their  country's  tears  ! 

JACKSOJV  !  CALHOUN  !  CLAY  !  touching  sounds- 

Thai  thrill  the  soul  like  muffled  drum  ! 
Names  wont  to  cheer,  'mid  fortune's  frowns, 

Like  the  full  moon  or  mid-day  sun. 

Who  fought  and  spoke  in  thrilling  strain, 

For  liberty  and  all  her  train  ; 
Who  all  were  true,  from  youth  to  age, 

As  any  of  historic  page. 

Farewell,  fathers  !  cold  in  the  ground  ! 

Who  loved  and  served  thy  race  so  well  ,- 
Thy  sons  still  live,  to  guard  thy  mound, 

And  thy  great  deeds  their  children  tell. 

On  motion,  the  Board  then  adjourned. 

D.  T.  VALENTINE,  Clerk. 


is 


BOARD  OF  ASSISTANT  ALDERMEN, 

JUNE  30,  1852. 

PRESENT — Jonathan  Trotter,  Esq.,  President,  in  the  chair; 
Messrs.  Brown,  Tait,  Mabbatt,  O'Brien,  Rodman,  Wood- 
ward, Wells,  Anderson,  Bouton,  McGown,  .Wright, 
Wheelan,  Barker,  Rogers  and  Valentine. 

The  President  announced  that  the  Board  had  been  called 
together  by  his  Honor  the  Mayor,  pursuant  to  the  third 
section  of  the  amended  charter,  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
such  measures  as  the  members  may  deem  proper  in  relation 
to  the  death  of  the  Hon.  HENEY  CLAY. 

Mr.  Barker  presented  the  following  resolutions,  viz  : 

Resolved,  That  this  Board  has  received,  with  feelings  of 
deep  regret,  the  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Hon.  HENRY 
CLAY,  late  a  Senator  in  Congress,  from  the  State  of  Ken- 
tucky. 

Resolved,  That  in  common  with  our  constituents  and  the 
whole  nation,  we  mourn  the  loss  of  the  great  man  who  has 
filled  and  adorned  so  many  public  stations,  and  in  whom, 
by  a  happy  combination,  Avere  united  the  highest  character- 
istics of  the  orator,  the  patriot,  the  statesman  and  the  sage. 

Resolved,  That  our  admiration  of  his  character,  and  our 
sorrow  at  his  loss,  are  increased  by  the  reflection  that  he 
crowned  his  splendid  labors  by  devoting,  with  all  the 
ardor  of  his  earlier  years,  the  evening  of  his  life,  and  the  last 
efforts  of  his  genial  spirit  and  his  matchless  eloquence,  to 
reconciling  sectional  animosities,  and  to  vindicating  and 
preserving  that  glorious  Union,  in  whose  service  he  had  so 
long  and  so  faithfully  labored. 

19 


(Dbse  Allies  of 


Resolved,  That  it  is  our  solace,  on  this  melancholy  occa- 
sion, to  reflect  that  the  close  of  his  life  was  serene  and 
tranquil,  supported  by  the  consolations  of  affection  and 
religion  ;  that  the  sun  of  his  glory  descended  unclouded  ; 
that  he  now  reposes,  all  feelings  of  party  forgotten,  and 
by  universal  consent,  and  with  a  fame  forever  identified  in 
the  annals  of  the  world,  with  the  history  of  the  country 
and  of  liberty. 

Resolved,  That  penetrated  by  these  feelings,  and  desirous 
of  testifying,  however  faintly,  our  appreciation  of  a  char- 
acter so  lofty  and  services  so  distinguished,  a  Committee 
of  five  from  the  Board  of  Assistant  Aldermen  be  appointed, 
to  confer  with  a  like  Committee  from  the  Board  of  Alder- 
men, to  devise  suitable  measures,  on  behalf  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  in  honor  of  the  memory  of  the  deceased. 

The  resolutions  having  been  read,  Mr.  BAKKER  rose,'and 
addressed  the  Board  as  follows : 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  : — I  feel  embarrassed  in  attempting  to 
add  any  remarks  to  the  resolutions  which  have  been  pre- 
sented upon  this  mournful  occasion,  for  I  feel  my  incompe- 
tency  to  the  task. 

We  have  been  convened  this  evening,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  death  of -the  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  who  has  long  been  the 
pride  and  the  glory  of  the  American  republic. 

HENRY  CLAY,  the  man  of  the  nation,  who  for  half  a 
century  has  stood  first  in  the  front  ranks,  as  an  orator,  a 
statesman  and  a  patriot,  is  now  numbered  with  the  dead. 
That  great  and  heroic  soul,  which  knew  no  impulses  but 
those  of  patriotism  and  philanthropy,  has  passed  away 
from  these  mortal  scenes.  The  millions  of  this  wide  ex- 
tended country,  with  the  millions  of  the  friends  of  liberty 

20 


P'  If  eoTij  Ciqjj. 
BEE 


in  other  lands,  will  receive  the  news  of  this  event  with 
emotions  too  deep  for  utterance. 

At  the  mention  of  his  name,  we  are  now  hushed  in 
silence  and  grief.  There  is  now  no  hurrah  for  him  who  so 
often  carried  with  him  the  people  with  an  enthusiasm  so 
unbounded.  He  has  made  his  last  appeal  to  his  country- 
men, and  that  was  for  the  union  of  this  glorious  confed- 
eracy. We  all  know  how  that  appeal  has  been  answered. 
He  is  now  silent,  and  sleeps  the  sleep  of  death,  but  he  has 
left  with  us  the  triumph  of  his  glorious  deeds  to  brighten 
our  path  for  the  future. 

It  is  needless,  in  this  place,  to  recount  the  various  acts  of 
a  life  devoted  to  the  service  of  his  country.  They  are  the 
theme  of  youth  and  the  admiration  of  age. 

His  countrymen  had  been  for  some  time  warned  that  a 
mortal  disease  had  attacked  his  majestic  and  stately  form, 
yet  the  melancholy  tidings  of  his  death,  though  softened 
by  their  expected  coming,  have  sank  deeply  and  perma- 
nently into  every  heart. 

The  great  man  of  this  nation  has  been  taken  away,  but 
time,  endless  time,  will  recall  the  glories  of  his  past  life, 
and  many  a  page  of  his  country's  history  will  be  adorned 
and  illuminated  with  the  actions,  the  wisdom,  and  the  elo- 
quence of  HENRY  CLAY. 

The  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted,  and  Messrs. 
BARKER,  WOODWARD,  TAIT,  ANDERSON  and  WRIGHT,  ap- 
pointed the  Committee. 


Mr.  BARKER  then  moved  that  the  resolutions  be  sent  to 
the  Board  of  Aldermen  for  concurrence. 


Which  was  carried. 


Ob  series 


The  above  resolutions  were  subsequently  received  from 
the  Board  of  Aldermen,  so  amended  as  to  increase  the 
Committee  to  seven. 

Whereupon,  the  amendment  was  concurred  in,  and  the 
President  added  Messrs.  Me  GOWN  and  VALENTINE  to  said 
Committee. 

FROM  THE  BOAED  OF  ALDERMEN. 

Preamble  and  resolutions  in  favor  of  adopting  suitable 
measures  in  relation  to  the  death  of  HENRY  CLAY. 

Unanimously  concurred  in. 

On  motion,  the  Board  then  adjourned. 

EDWARD  SANFORD,  Clerk. 


Pending  the  proceedings  in  this  city,  ceremonies  of  the 
most  interesting,  but  melancholy  character,  commensurate 
with  the  love  the  deceased  was  held  by  the  nation,  and 
which  your  Committee  deem  worthy  of  being  recorded, 
took  place  at  the  Capital. 

f  utuni  S0I*mnitus  in  SteHitgtfliL 

Pursuant  to  the  arrangements  prescribed  by  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  Senate,  the  members  of  the  Senate  and  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  together  with  public  bodies  and 
associations,  military  companies,  and  civic  authorities,  as- 
sembled at  the  National  Hotel,  where  the  body  had  lain 
since  life  departed;  and  from  thence  the  melancholy  funeral 
procession  passed  to  the  Senate  chamber,  so  long  the 
theatre  of  his  glories. 

22 


As  the  body  was  borne  to  the  centre  of  the  chamber, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  BUTLER,  Chaplain  to  the  Senate,  in  full  ca- 
nonicals, read  part  of  the  Episcopal  ritual — 

"  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life,  saith  the  Lord." 

In  consonance  with  the  solemn  service  over  the  dead  was 
the  scene  there  presented — sombre  and  sad. 

The  President  of  the  United  States,  and  the  Speaker  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  were  seated  with  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Senate.  The  body  of  the  Senate,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  state  sovereignties,  were  grouped,  on  the 
two  innermost  semicircular  rows  of  chairs,  around  the 
lifeless  form  of  their  late  colleague.  The  Committee  of 
Arrangements,  and  the  Committee  to  convey  the  body  to 
Kentucky,  and  the  pall-bearers,  with  the  Kentucky  dele- 
gation in  the  House  of  Representatives,  as  chief  mourners, 
and  a  number  of  personal  devoted  friends,  were  also  in 
close  proximity  to  the  inanimate  form  of  the  deceased. 

The  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  filled  the 
outer  circles,  except  such  parts  as  were  devoted  to  the 
large  diplomatic  corps,  the  Cabinet  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  the  officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy, 
among  whom  were  Major-General  SCOTT,  Commander-in- 
chief,  and  Commodore  MORRIS.  With  the  Municipal 
Councils  of  the  city  of  Washington,  were  the  officers  of 
neighboring  cities,  and  others,  official  and  unofficial. 

A  shield  of  fragrant  and  sweetly-culled  flowers  was 
placed  upon  the  sarcophagus,  as  a  memorial  of  affection  for 
the  deceased  statesman  within.  The  pure  white  and  bright- 
ly variegated  flowers  contrasted  sadly  with  the  rich  folding 

23 


Msjqqies  of 


drapery  of  black  cloth,  additionally  relieved  by  its  silver 
ornaments.  The  sarcophagus,  in  which  the  remains  were 
inurned,  resembles  the  outlines  of  the  human  body.  The 
handles,  the  face-plate,  the  plate  for  inscribing  the  name, 
and  other  plates,  are  of  massive  silver,  beautifully  wrought 
and  chased,  having  appropriate  emblems,  among  which 
appear  wreaths  of  laurel  and  oak,  with  a  full-blown  rose, 
and  sprig  of  oak  with  its  acorns  detached  from  their 
parent  stem,  showing  the  work  of  the  fell  destroyer.  The 
plate,  near  the  centre  of  the  sarcophagus,  bore  the  simple 
inscription, 


The  utmost  silence  prevailed  ;  all  present,  including  the 
crowded  auditory  in  the  galleries  and  lobbies,  were  deeply 
impressed  with  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion.  Amidst 
the  contemplations  to  which  this  scene  gave  being,  the 
chaplain's  voice  broke  on  the  listening  ear — 

"  But  some  man  will  say,  How  arc  the  dead  raised  up  ?  and  with  what 
body  do  they  come  ?" 

The  answer  is  furnished  by  the  residue  of  the  fifteenth 
chapter  of  1st  Corinthians,  which  the  chaplain  impressively 
read  for  the  consolation  of  the  bereaved  living. 

24 


ifenrye^y. 


A   SERMON 

DEL'-VEIiED  IN  TIIE   SENATE   CHAMBER  OF   THE  UNITED  STATES, 


OS  THK  O:C«ION   OF  THS 


FUNERAL  OF   THE   HON.   HENRY   CLAY, 

BY   T3K 

REV.  C.  M.  BUTLER,  D.D., 

CHAPLAIN  OF  THE  SENATE. 


"  How  is  the  strong  staff  broken,  and  the  beautiful  rod !"— JER.  xlviii.  17. 


"  BEFORE  all  hearts  and  minds  in  this  august  assemblage, 
the  vivid  image  of  ONE  MAN  stands.  To  some  aged  eye, 
he  may  come  forth,  from  the  dim  past,  as  he  appeared  in 
the  neighboring  city  of  his  native  state,  a  lithe  and  ardent 
youth,  full  of  promise,  of  ambition,  and  of  hope.  To 
another,  he  may  appear  as,  in  a  distant  state,  in  the  courts  of 
justice,  erect,  high  strung,  bold,  wearing  the  fresh  forensic 
laurel  on  his  young  and  open  brow.  Some  may  see  him 
in  the  earlier,  and  some  in  the  later,  stages  of  his  career,  on 
this  conspicuous  theatre  of  his  renown;  and  to  the  former 
he  will  start  out,  on  the  background  of  the  past,  as  he 
appeared  in  the  neighboring  chamber,  tall,  elate,  impas- 
sioned— with  flashing  eye  and  suasive  gesture,  and  clarion 
voice,  an  already  acknowledged  '  Agamemnon,  King  of 
Men;'  and  to  others,  he  will  again  stand  in  this  chamber 
'  the  strong  staff '  of  the  bewildered  and  staggering  state, 


and  '  the  beautiful  rod,'  rich  with  the  blossoms  of  genius, 
and  of  patriotic  love  and  hope,  the  life  of  youth  still  re- 
maining to  give  animation,  grace,  and  exhaustless  vigor, 
to  the  wisdom,  the  experience,  and  the  gravity  of  age.  To 
others  he  may  be  present  as  he  sat  in  the  chamber  of  sick- 
ness, cheerful,  majestic,  gentle — his  mind  clear,  his  heart 
warm,  his  hope  fixed  on  heaven,  peacefully  preparing  for 
his  last  great  change.  To  the  memory  of  the  minister  of 
God,  he  appears  as  the  penitent,  humble,  and  peaceful 
Christian,  who  received  him  with  the  affection  of  a  father, 
and  joined  with  him,  in  solemn  sacrament  and  prayer,  with 
the  gentleness  of  a  woman  and  the  humility  of  a  child.  '  Out 
of  the  strong  came  forth  sweetness.7  '  How  is  the  strong 
staff  broken,  and  the  beautiful  rod ! '  But  not  before  this 
assembly  only,  does  the  venerated  image  of  the  departed 
statesman,  this  day,  distinctly  stand.  For  more  than  a 
thousand  miles — East,  West,  North  and  South — it  is  known 
and  remembered,  that  at  this  place  and  hour,  a  nation's 
representatives  assemble  to  do  honor  to  him  whose  fame  is 
now  a  nation's  heritage.  A  nation's  mighty  heart  throbs 
against  this  capitol,  and  beats  through  you.  In  many 
cities  banners  droop,  bells  toll,  cannons  boom,  funereal 
draperies  wave.  In  crowded  streets,  and  on  sounding- 
wharfs,  upon  steamboats  and  upon  cars,  in  fields  and  in 
work-shops,  in  homes,  in  schools,  millions  of  men,  women 
and  children,  have  their  thoughts  fixed  upon  this  scene, 
and  say  mournfully  to  each  other,  '  This  is  the  hour  in 
which,  at  the  capitol,  the  nation's  representatives  are 
burying  HENRY  CLAY.'  Burying  HENRY  CLAY!  Bury 
the  records  of  your  country's  history — bury  the  hearts  of 
living  millions — bury  the  mountains,  the  rivers,  the  lakes, 
and  the  spreading  Ian ds  from  sea  to  sea,  with  which  his  name 

26 


ifcimi  tflqij. 


is  inseparably  associated,  and  even  then  you  would  not  bury 
HENRY  CLAY — for  he  lives  in  other  lands,  and  speaks  in 
other  tongues,  and  to  other  times  than  ours. 

"  A  great  mind,  a  great  heart,  a  great  orator,  a  great 
career,  have  been  consigned  to  history.  She  will  record 
his  rare  gifts  of  deep  insight,  keen  discrimination,  clear 
statement,  rapid  combination,  plain,  direct  and  convincing 
logic.  She  will  love  to  dwell  on  that  large,  generous, 
magnanimous,  open,  forgiving  heart.  She  will  linger,  with 
fond  delight,  on  the  recorded  and  traditional  stories  of  an 
eloquence  that  was  so  masterful  and  stirring,  because  it 
was  but  himself,  struggling  to  come  forth  on  the  living 
words — because,  though  the  words  were  brave  and  strong, 
and  beautiful  and  melodious,  it  was  felt  that,  behind  them 
there  was  a  soul,  braver,  stronger,  more  beautiful,  and 
more  melodious,  than  language  could  express.  She  will 
point  to  a  career  of  statesmanship  which  has,  to  a  remark- 
able degree,  stamped  itself  on  the  public  policy  of  the 
country,  and  reached,  in  beneficent  practical  results,  the 
fields,  the  looms,  the  commercial  marts,  and  the  quiet 
homes  of  all  the  land,  where  his  name  was,  with  the  de- 
parted fathers,  and  is  with  the  living  children,  and  will  be, 
with  successive  generations,  an  honored  household  word. 

"  I  feel,  as  a  man.  the  grandeur  of  this  career.  But  as 
an  immortal,  with  this  broken  wreck  of  mortality  before 
me,  with  this  scene  as  the  '  end-all '  of  human  glory,  I  feel 
that  no  career  is  truly  great  but  that  of  him  who,  whether 
he  be  illustrious  or  obscure,  lives  to  the  future  in  the  pros 
ent,  and,  linking  himself  to  the  spiritual  world,  draws 
from  GOD  the  life,  the  rule,  the  motive,  and  the  reward  of 
all  his  labor.  So  would  that  great  spirit  which  has  de- 
parted say  to  us,  could  he  address  us  now.  So  did  he  re- 

27 


alize  in  the  calm  and  meditative  close  of  life.  I  feel  that 
I  but  utter  the  lessons  which,  living,  were  his  last  and  best 
convictions,  and  which,  dead,  would  be,  could  he  speak  to 
us,  his  solemn  admonitions,  when  I  say  that  statesmanship 
is  then  only  glorious  when  it  is  Christian:  and  that  man  is 
then  only  safe,  and  true  to  his  duty  and  his  soul,  when  the 
life  which  he  lives  in  the  flesh  is  the  life  of  faith  in  the  SON 
of  GOD. 

"  Great,  indeed,  is  the  privilege,  and  most  honorable  and 
useful  is  the  career,  of  a  Christian  American  statesman. 
He  perceives  that  civil  liberty  came  from  the  freedom 
wherewith  CHRIST  made  its  early  martyrs  and  defenders 
free.  He  recognizes  it  as  one  of  the  twelve  manner  of 
fruits  on  the  Tree  of  Life  which,  while  its  lower  branches 
furnish  the  best  nutriment  of  earth,  hangs  on  its  topmost 
boughs,  which  wave  in  Heaven,  fruits  that  exhilarate  the 
immortals.  Recognizing  the  State  as  GOD'S  institution, 
he  will  perceive  that  his  own  ministry  is  divine.  Living 
consciously  under  the  eye,  and  in  the  love  and  fear  of  GOD; 
redeemed  by  the  blood  of  JESUS;  sanctified  by  His  spirit, 
loving  His  law,  he  will  give  himself,  in  private  and  in  pub- 
lic, to  the  service  of  his  SAVIOR.  He  will  not  admit  that 
he  may  act  on  less  lofty  principles  in  public  than  in  private 
life,  and  that  he  must  be  careful  of  his  moral  influence  in 
the  small  sphere  of  home  and  neighborhood,  but  need  take 
no  heed  of  it  when  it  stretches  over  continents  and  crosses 
seas.  He  will  know  that  his  moral  responsibility  can  not 
be  divided  and  distributed  among  others.  When  he  is 
told  that  adherence  to  the  strictest  moral  and  religious 
principle  is  incompatible  with  a  successful  and  eminent  ca- 
reer, he  w  ll  denounce  the  assertion  as  a  libel  on  the  ven- 
erated Fathers  of  the  Republic — a  libel  on  the  honored  liv- 


'      itcnl-iieipu-  "' 


ing  and  the  illustrious  dead — libel  against  a  great  and 
Christian  nation — a  libel  against  GOD  himself,  who  has  de- 
clared and  made  '  godliness  profitable  for  the  life  that  now 
is.'  He  will  strive  to  make  laws  the  transcripts  of  the 
character,  and  institutions  illustrations  of  the  providence  of 
GOD.  He  will  scan  with  admiration  and  awe  the  purposes  of 
GOD  in  the  future  history  of  the  world,  in  throwing  open 
this  wide  continent,  from  sea  to  sea,  as  the  abode  of  free- 
dom, intelligence,  plenty,  prosperity  and  peace;  and  feel 
that,  in  giving  his  energies  with  a  patriot's  love  to  the 
welfare  of  his  country,  he  is  consecrating  himself,  with  a 
Christian's  zeal,  to  the  extension  and  establishment  of  the 
Redeemer's  kingdom.  Compared  with  a  career  like  this, 
which  is  equally  open  to  those  whose  public  sphere  is  large 
or  small,  how  paltry  are  the  trade  of  patriotism,  the  tricks 
of  statesmanship,  the  rewards  of  successful  baseness  !  This 
hour,  this  scene,  the  venerated  dead,  the  country,  the  world, 
the  present,  the  future,  GOD,  duty,  heaven,  hell,  speak 
trumpet-tongued  to  all  in  the  service  of  their  country,  to 
beware  how  they  lay  polluted  or  unhallowed  hands 

'  Upon  the  ark 
Of  her  magnificent  and  awful  cause.' 

"  Such  is  the  character  of  that  statesmanship  which  alone 
would  have  met  the  full  approval  of  the  venerated  dead. 
For  the  religion  which  always  had  a  place  in  the  convic- 
tions of  his  mind,  had  also,  within  a  recent  period,  entered 
into  his  experience  and  seated  itself  in  his  heart.  Twenty 
years  since,  he  wrote — '  I  am  a  member  of  no  religious 
sect,  and  I  am  not  a  professor  of  religion.  I  regret  that  I 
am  not.  I  wish  that  I  was,  and  trust  that  I  shall  be.  I 
have,  and  always  have  had,  a  profound  regard  for  Chris- 

29 


of 


tianity,  the  religion  of  my  fathers,  and  for  its  rites,  its 
usages  and  observances.'  That  feeling  proved  that  the 
seed  sown  by  pious  parents,  was  not  dead,  though  stifled. 
A  few  years  since,  its  dormant  life  was  re-awakened.  He 
was  baptized  in  the  communion  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church;  and  during  his  sojourn  in  this  city,  he  was  in  full 
communion  with  Trinity  Parish. 

"  It  is  since  his  withdrawal  from  the  sittings  of  the  Sen- 
ate, that  I  have  been  made  particularly  acquainted  with 
his  religious  opinions,  character,  and  feelings.  From  the 
commencement  of  his  illness  he  always  expressed  to  me 
his  persuasion  that  its  termination  would  be  fatal.  From 
that  period  until  his  death,  it  was  my  privilege  to  hold  fre- 
quent religious  services  and  conversations  with  him  in  his 
room.  He  avowed  to  me  his  full  faith  in  the  great  leading 
doctrines  of  the  Gospel — the  fall  and  sinfulness  of  man,  the 
divinity  of  CHRIST,  the  reality  and  necessity  of  the  Atone- 
ment, the  need  of  being  born  again  by  the  Spirit,  and  salva- 
tion through  faith  in  a  crucified  Redeemer.  His  own 
personal  hopes  of  salvation  he  ever  and  distinctly  based 
on  the  promises  and  the  grace  of  CHRIST.  Strikingly  per- 
ceptible on  his  naturally  impetuous  and  impatient  char- 
acter, was  the  influence  of  grace  in  producing  submission 
and  a  '  patient  waiting  for  CHRIST,'  and  for  death.  On 
one  occasion,  he  spoke  to  me  of  the  pious  example  of 
one  very  near  and  dear  to  him,  as  that  which  led  him 
deeply  to  feel  and  earnestly  to  seek  for  himself  the  reality 
and  the  blessedness  of  religion.  On  another  occasion,  he 
told  me  that  he  had  been  striving  to  form  a  conception  of 
heaven;  and  he  enlarged  upon  the  mercy  of  that  provision 
by  which  our  SAVIOR  became  a  partaker  of  our  humanity, 
that  our  hearts  and  hopes  might  fix  themselves  on  him. 


On  another  occasion,  when  he  was  supposed  to  be  very 
near  his  end,  I  expressed  to  him  the  hope  that  his  mind 
and  heart  were  at  peace,  and  that  he  was  able  to  rest  with 
cheerful  confidence  on  the  promises  and  in  the  merits  of 
the  Redeemer.  He  said,  with  much  feeling,  that  he  endea- 
vored to,  and  trusted  that  he  did  repose  his  salvation  upon 
CHRIST  ;  that  it  was  too  late  for  him  to  look  at  Christian- 
ity in  the  light  of  speculation;  that  he  had  never  doubted 
of  its  truth;  and  that  he  now  wished  to  throw  himself  upon 
it  as  a  practical  and  blessed  remedy.  Very  soon  after  this, 
I  administered  to  him  the  sacrament  of  the  LORD'S  Supper. 
Being  extremely  feeble,  and  desirous  of  having  his  mind 
undiverted,  no  persons  were  present  but  his  son  and  his 
servant.  It  was  a  scene  long  to  be  remembered.  There,  in 
that  still  chamber,  at  a  week-day  noon,  the  tides  of  life 
flowing  all  around  us,  three  disciples  of  the  SAVIOR — the 
minister  of  GOD,  the  dying  statesman,  and  his  servant,  a 
partaker  of  the  like  precious  faith — commemorated  their 
SAVIOR'S  dying  love.  He  joined  in  the  blessed  sacrament 
with  great  feeling  and  solemnity — now  pressing  his  hands 
together,  and  now  spreading  them  forih,  as  the  words  of 
the  service  expressed  the  feelings,  desires,  supplications, 
confessions,  and  thanksgivings  of  his  heart.  His  eyes  were 
dim  with  grateful  tears,  his  heart  was  full  of  peace  and 
love !  After  this  he  rallied,  and  again  I  was  permitted 
frequently  to  join  with  him  in  religious  services,  conversa- 
tion and  prayer.  He  grew  in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge 
of  our  LORD  and  SAVIOR  JESUS  CHRIST.  Among  the  books 
which,  in  connection  with  the  "Word  of  GOD,  he  read  most, , 
were  '  Jay's  Morning  and  Evening  Exercises;'  the  'Life 
of  Dr.  Chalmers;'  and  '  The  Christian  Philosopher  Trium- 
phant in  Death.'  His  hope  continued  to  the  end,  to  be,  j 

31 


'''  (!Hisei)i|ies  of 


though  true  and  real,  tremulous  with  humility  rather  than 
rapturous  with  assurance.  When  he  felt  most  the  weari- 
ness of  his  protracted  sufferings,  it  sufficed  to  suggest  to 
him  that  his  Heavenly  Father  doubtless  knew  that,  after 
a  life  so  long  and  stirring,  and  tempted,  such  a  discipline 
of  chastening  and  suffering  was  needful  to  make  him  more 
meet  for  the  inheritance  of  the  saints;  and  at  once  words 
of  meek  and  patient  acquiescence  escaped  his  lips. 

"  Exhausted  nature  at  length  gave  way.  On  the  last 
occasion  when  I  was  permitted  to  offer  a  brief  prayer  at 
his  bedside,  his  last  words  to  me  were  that  he  had  hope 
only  in  CHRIST,  and  that  the  prayer  which  I  had  offered 
for  his  pardoning  love  and  his  sanctifying  grace,  included 
every  thing  which  the  dying  need.  On  the  evening  pre- 
vious to  his  departure,  sitting  for  an  hour  in  silence  by  his 
side,  I  could  not  but  realize,  when  I  heard  him,  in  the  slight 
wanderings  of  his  mind  to  other  days,  and  other  scenes, 
murmuring  the  words,  'My  mother!  Mother!  Mother!' 
and  saying,  '  My  dear  wife  !'  as  if  she  were  present;  and 
frequently  uttering  aloud,  as  if  in  response  to  some  silent 
Litany  of  the  soul,  the  simple  prayer,  '  LORD  have  mercy 
upon  me.'  I  could  not  but  realize  then,  and  rejoice  to 
think  how  near  was  the  blessed  reunion  of  his  weary 
heart  with  the  loved  dead  and  with  her — Our  dear  LORD 
gently  smooth  her  passage  to  the  tomb  1 — who  must  soon 
follow  him  to  his  rest,  whose  spirits  even  then  seemed  to 
visit  and  to  cheer  his  memory  and  his  hope.  Gently  he 
breathed  his  soul  away  into  the  spirit  worlti. 

'  How  blest  the  righteous  when  they  die  ! 

When  holy  souls  retire  to  rest, 
How  mildly  beams  the  closing  eye ! 

How  gently  heaves  the  expiring  breast ! 
32 


'  So  fades  the  summer  cloud  away  ; 

So  sinks  the  gale  when  storms  are  o'er ; 
So  gently  shuts  the  eye  of  day  ; 
So  dies  the  wave  upon  the  shore ! ' 

"  Be  it  ours  to  follow  him  in  the  same  humble  and  sub- 
missive faith  to  Heaven.  Could  he  speak  to  us  the  coun- 
sels of  his  latest  human  and  his  present  heavenly  expe- 
rience, sure  I  am,  that  he  would  not  only  admonish  us  to 
cling  to  the  SAVIOR  in  sickness  and  in  death  ;  but  adjure 
us  not  to  delay  to  act  upon  our  first  convictions,  that  we 
might  give  our  best  powers  and  fullest  influence  to  GOD, 
and  go  to  the  grave  with  a  hope,  unshadowed  by  the  long 
worldliness  of  the  past,  or  by  the  films  of  fear  and  doubt 
resting  over  the  future. 

"  The  strong  staff  is  broken,  and  the  beautiful  rod  is  de- 
spoiled of  its  grace  and  bloom;  but,  in  the  light  of  the 
eternal  promises,  and  by  the  power  of  CHRIST'S  resurrec- 
tion, we  joyfully  anticipate  the  prospect  of  seeing  that 
broken  staff  erect,  and  that  beautiful  rod,  clothed  with 
celestial  grace,  and  blossoming  with  undying  life  and  bless- 
edness, in  the  Paradise  of  GOD." 

The  ritual  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  at  the  burial  of  the 
dead,  closed  the  solemn  service,  and  the  body  was  removed 
to  the  rotunda,  when  the  silver  plate,  covering  the  glass 
over  the  face  of  the  corpse,  was  removed,  the  President 
and  the  Cabinet,  Senators,  Representatives,  Diplomatic 
Corps,  officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  Clergymen  and  Phy- 
sicians, and  all  present,  drew  near,  and,  amid  the  most 
impressive  silence,  took  a  last  view  of  the  features  of  the 
great  and  illustrious  deceased. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  ceremonies,  the  procession  pro- 
ceeded to  the  railroad  depot,  in  the  following  order  : 

3  33 


I96se()t(ies  of 


The  Chaplains  of  both  Houses  of  Congress 
Physicians  who  attended  the  deceased. 


Committee  of  Arrangements. 


Mr.  COOPER, 
Mr.  BRIGHT, 
Mr.  SMITH. 


Mr.  HUNTER, 
Mr.  DAWSON, 
Mr.  JONES,  of  Iowa, 


Pall  Bearers. 


Mr.  CASS. 

Mr.  MANGUM, 

Mr.  DODGE,  of  Wis. 


o 
O 


Mr.  PRATT, 
Mr.  ATCHISOX, 
Mr.  BELL. 


Committee  to  attend  the  remains  to  Kentucky. 


Mr.  UNDERWOOD, 
Mr.  JONES,  of  Tenn. 
Mr.  CASS, 


Mr.  FISH, 
Mr.  HOUSTON, 
Mr.  STOCKTON. 


The  Family  and  Friends  of  the  deceased. 
The  Senators  and  Representatives  from  the  State  of  Ken- 
tucky, as  mourners. 
The  Sergeant-at-Arms  of  the  Senate. 
The  Senate  of  the  United  States,  preceded  by  their 
President  pro  tempore,  and  Secretary. 

The  other  Officers  of  the  Senate. 

The  Sergeant-at-Arms  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

The  House  of  Representatives,  preceded  by  their  Speaker 

and  Clerk. 
The  other  Officers  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

Judges  of  the  United  States. 

Officers  of  the  Executive  Departments. 

Officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy. 

34 


tteorij  Cli)i|. 


The  Mayor  and  Corporation  of  Washington,  and  of  other 

Cities. 

Civic  Associations. 

Military    Companies. 

Citizens  and  Strangers. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  corpse  at  the  depot,  it  was  placed 
in  a  car  appropriately  decorated,  and  confided  to  the  Com- 
mittee appointed  to  accompany  it  to  Kentucky.  The 
funeral  cortege  soon  after  arrived,  and  halted  for  the 

night  at 


where  the  whole  people  came  out  to  attest,  by  fit  obser- 
vances, their  affection  and  sorrow.  The  cofiin  was  placed 
for  the  night  in  the  Exchange,  upon  a  magnificent  ceno- 
taph, erected  in  the  centre  of  the  rotunda,  in  charge  of  the 
Independent  Greys,  as  a  guard  of  honor. 

On  the  following  morning  the  corpse  was  removed  from 
the  Exchange  to  the  cars,  attended  by  the  Mayor,  City 
Council,  officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  the  Independent 
Greys,  (guard  of  honor,)  civic  associations  and  the  citizens 
of  Baltimore,  generally.  The  whole  city  wore  a  melan- 
choly aspect;  business  was  generally  suspended;  the  build- 
ings on  the  streets  through  which  the  procession  passed, 
and  in  other  parts  of  the  city,  were  decorated  with  the 
mournful  habiliments  of  death.  The  bells  tolled  and  min- 
ute guns  were  fired  during  the  passage  of  the  procession. 

The  body  was  placed  in  a  car  appropriately  draped  with 
black  crape,  and  the  cars,  provided  for  the  funeral  cortege, 
were  similarly  decorated. 

35 


Obsequies  of 


At  Elkton,  McL,  the  cortege  was  met  by  a  Committee 
from  the  State  of  Delaware,  to  whom  the  Baltimore  Com- 
mittee delivered  their  venerated  charge,  accompanied  with 
a  beautiful  and  appropriate  address;  which  was  very  feel- 
ingly responded  to  by  the  Committee  from  Delaware. 
When  the  cars  reached 


a  large  civic  and  military  escort  was  in  attendance,  and 
the  remains  and  escort,  consisting  of  the  Baltimore  and 
Washington  Committees,  were  received  by  the  Committee 
of  Arrangements  appointed  by  the  City  Council,  and  es- 
corted to  the  City  Hall,  where  a  guard  of  honor  was  sta- 
tioned, and  the  plate  being  removed  from  the  sarcophagus, 
an  immense  concourse  of  people,  male  and  female,  passed 
through  the  lines  and  took  a  last  look  at  the  features  of 
the  deceased. 

At  every  station  where  the  cars  stopped,  they  were  met 
by  thousands,  who  were  anxious  to  obtain  a  view  of  the 
body.  Houses  were  decked  with  mourning,  bells  tolled, 
and  minute  guns  fired,  as  the  train  passed  along. 


The  cortege  arrived  at  Philadelphia  at  night,  and  was 
received  at  the  depot  by  the  corporate  authorities,  fire- 
men, military  and  citizens.  The  Washington  Greys  acting 
as  the  guard  of  honor  to  the  corpse.  The  firemen  carried 
lighted  torches,  and  rockets  were  fired,  during  the  passage 
of  the  procession,  from  the  depot  to  the  Hall  of  Indepen- 
dence. The  procession  as  it  moved  through  the  entire 
route  to  the  Hall  of  Independence,  was  grand,  solemn  and 


3G 


imposing  beyond  any  thing  of  the  kind  that  has  ever  taken 
place  in  that  city.  The  whole  population  appeared  to  be 
gathered  on  the  line  of  march,  and  a  deep,  reverent,  elo- 
quent silence,  like  the  silence  of  death  itself,  pervaded  the 
mighty  multitude;  above  it  all,  rendered  more  audible  and 
impressive  by  the  contrast,  was  heard  the  slow,  measured 
tread  of  the  long  funeral  train,  the  tolling  bells,  the  boom- 
ing minute  gun,  and  the  mournful  roll  of  the  muffled  drum. 

The  city  authorities  had  made  every  preparation  for  the 
reception  of  the  remains.  The  hall  was  heavily  hung  with 
black  cloth,  and  the  square  was  brilliantly  illuminated. 

The  scene  in  the  venerable  hall  was  one  which  pen  could 
not  describe.  The  hour  was  midnight.  The  body  was  sur- 
rendered, in  a  feeling  speech,  by  the  Chief  Marshal,  Major 
FRITZ,  into  the  keeping  of  the  city  authorities.  The  chair- 
man of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements,  Mr.  WETHERILL, 
was  so  overcome  by  his  feelings,  that  he  could  not  reply. 

As  the  spectators  passed  around  the  bier,  and  took  a 
last  look  at  the  coffin,  then  encircled  in  a  wreath  of  green 
and  rare  flowers,  the  silence  of  death  pervaded  the  room. 
Tears  were  freely  shed,  and  the  deepest  sorrow  was  de- 
picted on  every  countenance. 

At  an  early  hour  on  Saturday  morning,  the  doors  of  the 
hall  were  thrown  open,  and  the  people,  to  the  number  of 
thousands,  of  both  sexes,  and  of  all  ages,  were  admitted  to 
take  a  last  look  of  the  magnificent  coffin.  The  face  of  the 
corpse  was  not  exposed,  as  the  effect  of  the  light  on  it,  in 
Baltimore,  produced  such  a  marked  change,  as  to  show  the 
necessity  of  the  utmost  caution,  in  order  to  preserve  the 

37 


^ 


lineaments  of  the  great  man  perfect,  for  the  gratification 
of  his  family  and  nearest  friends,  when  the  body  shall 
reach  its  final  resting-place  in  Kentucky. 

The  corpse  was  placed  in  the  hearse  and  conveyed  to 
the  steamer  Trenton,  followed  by  the  several  committees, 
and  the  marshals  of  the  obsequies.  The  band  played  a 
farewell  dirge,  and  the  Washington  Greys  gave  the  parting 
salute.  The  steamer  was  heavily  draped  in  black,  and  her 
bell  tolled  in  mournful  harmony  with  the  dirge-like  toll  of 
the  bells  of  the  city.  At  nine  o'clock  the  boat  moved  off. 
A  large  throng  of  spectators  stood  gazing  sadly  after  her 
until  she  was  lost  to  view  on  the  river. 


The  Committee  of  Councils  delivered  the  corpse  into  the 
custody  of  the  officers  and  Committee  of  Congress,  charged 
with  the  duty  of  conveying  it  to  Ashland.  A  large  num- 
ber of  citizens  accompanied  the  remains  to  Tacony;  a  num- 
ber also  came  on  to 


The  remains  reached  Trenton  shortly  after  10  o'clock. 
Their  arrival  was  announced  by  the  firing  of  minute  guns 
by  a  company  of  artillery,  and  an  immense  concourse,  which 
had  collected,  uncovered  as  the  train  approached.  The 
church  bells  were  also  tolled,  and  all  the  buildings  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  depot  were  appropriately  draped. 

gtt  f  ritmt0it, 

There  was  a  very  general  suspension  of  business,  and  over 
the  railroad  an  immense  arch  was  erected,  and  draped  in 


"  -:^^ 

:4OJ 
-  •••-•'••^>' 


mourning,  with  mottoes  expressive  of  the  general  grief  at 
the  nation's  loss.  The  places  of  business  and  dwellings  in 
the  vicinity  were  also  in  mourning. 

Similar  demonstrations  of  sympathy  and  respect  were 
exhibited  at  NEW  BEUNSWICK,  ELIZABETHTOWN,  RAHWAY, 
and,  indeed,  at  all  places  along  the  route. 

git  U*toark, 

The  remains  were  met  by  the  Committee  of  Jersey  City, 
and  a  large  body  of  military,  while  the  firing  of  minute 
guns  and  the  tolling  of  bells  betokened  the  general  sorrow. 
The  stores  and  places  of  business  were  mostly  closed,  and 
all  the  principal  buildings  were  decked  in  mourning. 


(Orhr  0f  Jfwt'nttfft  in 


THURSDAY,  JULY  1. 


The  Joint  Committee  held  its  first  official  meeting  this 
day,  and  immediately  entered  upon  the  performance  of  the 
duties  assigned  them.  It  being  then  understood  that  the 
mortal  remains  of  the  revered  HENRY  CLAY  would  be 
brought  to  this  city,  en  route  for  Kentucky.  Ample  mea- 
sures were  promptly  adopted  to  complete  all  the  arrange- 
ments designed  for  the  reception  of  the  body,  characteris- 
tically appropriate  of  the  occasion,  and  in  a  manner  ade- 
quate to  his  merits  and  exalted  station.  A  delegation  from 
the  Clay  Festival  Association,  waited  upon  the  Committee, 
and  presented  the  following  communication  : 

"  The  undersigned,  duly  constituted  a  committee,  with 
power  to  act  in  behalf  of  the  '  Clay  Festival  Association/ 

39 


06se<|t|ies  of 


respectfully  represent  that  they  have  been  organized  as  an 
association,  the  past  seven  years,  having  for  its  object  the 
celebration  of  the  birthday  of  HENRY  CLAY,  by  an  annual 
festival.  That  many  of  them  were  closely  allied  to  him 
by  ties  of  personal  friendship  and  unity;  and  that  all  this 
has  been  done  free  from  any  political  considerations. 

"  That  we  now,  in  common  with  our  fellow-citizens,  mourn 
his  loss,  but,  that  from  the  very  nature  of  our  organiza- 
tion, it  is  manifest  that  the  ties  which  connect  us  with  the 
illustrious  dead,  is  of  a  strong  and  affectionate  character. 

"We  therefore  respectfully  request  of  your  honorable 
committee,  that  we  may  be  permitted  to  occupy  such  posi- 
tion and  take  such  action,  that  would  seem  to  be  not  only 
appropriate,  but  our  proper  right  . 

"  First.  We  respectfully  ask  of  you  to  be  permitted  to  do 
service  in  attendance  upon  the  body  of  the  deceased  during 
its  stay  in  New  York  . 

"  Second.  We  ask  that  we  may  be  permitted  to  act  as 
mourners  upon  the  occasion  of  the  procession. 


KENNETH  G.  WHITE, 
JOSIAH  P.  KNAPP, 


M.  R.  BREWER, 

President  Clay  Festival  Association. 

D     .  , 

Presidents. 


BENJ.  DRAKE, 

Chairman  Executive.  Committee. 


JAS.  L.  BERRIEN,  Sec'y. 


Jos.  M.  PRICE, 
WM.  S.  DUKE, 
HORATIO  REED, 
GEORGE  F.  WOODWARD, 

40 


H.  N.  LOUDON, 
DAVID  WEBB, 
JOHN  T.  BARNARD, 
A.  W.  ROGERS." 


il^i-y  e^ij. 


FRIDAY,  JULY  2. 

A  telegraphic  despatch  was  received  from  the  Hon. 
JOSEPH  R.  UNDERWOOD,  (from  Baltimore,)  stating  that  the 
body  of  Mr.  CLAY  would  arrive  in  this  city  on  Saturday 
afternoon. 

Whereupon,  Aldermen  BRISLEY,  BARD,  and  Assistant 
Aldermen  BARKER,  WRIGHT  and  McGowN,  were  appointed 
a  Committee  to  proceed  to  Philadelphia,  to  confer  with 
the  delegation  having  charge  of  the  body.  Delegations 
from  the  Clay  Festival  Association  and  Whig  General 
Committees  were  invited  to  accompany  the  Committee. 

Company  D,  Washington  Greys,  Capt.  JAMES  LITTLE, 
was  selected  as  a  guard  of  honor,  on  the  reception  of  the 
body  ;  also,  during  its  stay  in  the  city,  and  at  its  departure. 

Letters  of  invitation  were  issued  to  the  Mayor,  Governor, 
Lieut.  Governor  and  the  Heads  of  Departments  of  the- 
State,  Common  Council,  Heads  of  Departments,  Judges 
of  Courts,  officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  members  of 
Congress,  State  Senate  and  Assembly,  Foreign  Ministers 
and  Consuls,  Society  of  Cincinnati,  Collector,  Naval  Offi- 
cer and  Surveyor  of  the  Port,  and  other  civil  officers  of 
the  United  States,  <fec.,  <fec. 

The  following  notice  was  issued,  and  ordered  to  be  pub- 
lished in  the  newspapers  of  the  day  : 

"  The  Special  Committee  of  the  Common  Council  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  appointed  to  make  suitable  arrange- 
ments to  pay  respect  to  the  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  deceased, 
respectfully  announce  to  their  fellow-citizens,  that  intelli- 
gence has  been  received  that  the  remains  may  be  expected 
to  arrive  in  this  city  this  day,  Saturday,  3d  inst.,  at  one 
o'clock,  P.  M.,  at  the  Battery,  from  whence  they  will  be 

41 


Obsecjqieg 


taken  to  the  City  Hall,  and  there  remain  until  the  Con- 
gressional delegation  determines  to  proceed  onward. 

"  It  is  requested  by  the  Committee  that  the  persons  hav- 
ing charge  of  the  various  church  bells,  will  cause  them  to  be 
tolled  during  the  hours  of  one  and  two  o'clock,  p.  M. 

"  It  is  also  recommended  that  the  shipping  in  our  harbor 
display  their  flags  at  half  mast,  and  that  proprietors  of 
hotels  and  other  public  buildings,  do  likewise. 

"  The  Committee  earnestly  request,  that  from  the  hour 
above  named,  until  the  close  of  the  day,  business  of  every 
kind  be  suspended  in  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased. 

"  Delegates  who  will  participate  in  the  reception  of  the 
remains,  will  take  their  position  in  the  line  on  the  Battery, 
in  the  order  arranged  upon  with  the  Committee  of  the 
Common  Council,  as  the  shortness  of  time  will  preclude 
further  notice. 

It  is  designed  that  the  obsequies  in  honor  of  the  de- 
ceased will  take  place  at  some  future  time,  of  which  due 
notice  will  be  given. 

WILLIAM  H.  CORNELL, 
WESLEY  SMITH, 
WILLIAM  J.  BRISLEY, 
WILLIAM  M.  TWEED, 
JAMES  M.  BARD, 
S.  L.  H.  WARD, 
JOHN  BOYCE, 
RICHARD  T.  COMPTON, 

Pres't. 

ISAAC  O.  BARKER, 
THOMAS  WOODWARD, 
JOHN  J.  TA1T, 
WILLIAM  ANDERSON, 
WILLIAM  H.  WRIGHT, 
S.  BENSON  McGOWN, 
J.  H.  VALENTINE, 
JONATHAN  TROTTER, 

Pres't. 
42 


Committee  of  the 

Board  of 
Assistant  Aldermen. 


Committee 

of  the 
Board  of  Aldermen. 


On  the  same  day  his  Honor  the  Mayor  issued  the  fol- 
lowing 


MAYOR'S  OFFICE,  JULY  2,  1852. 

In  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  departed  sage  and  pa- 
triot, HENRY  CLAY,  whose  remains  will  reach  this  city  on 
Saturday,  the  3d  inst.,  on  their  route  to  the  West,  the 
public  offices  of  the  city  will  be  closed,  on  that  day,  after 
12  o'clock,  M. 

A.  C.  KINGSLAND,  Mayor. 

On  Saturday  morning,  the  Committee  assembled,  pre- 
paratory to  proceeding  to  Jersey  City,  where  they  were 
to  receive  the  body.  The  Committee,  accompanied  by  the 
Mayor,  members  of  the  Common  Council,  City  officers, 
Clay  Festival  Association,  United  States  Government 
officers,  Company  D,  Washington  Greys,  (guard  of  honor) 
and  a  large  number  of  invited  guests,  proceeded  to  the 
Battery,  and  embarked  on  board  the  steamer  Philadelphia 
for  Jersey  City. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  the  train  bearing  the  funeral  cor- 
tege, the  Hon.  JOSEPH  R.  UNDERWOOD,  was  introduced  to 
Mr.  MANNERS,  Mayor  of  Jersey  City,  who  spoke  in  be- 
half of  the  Committee,  as  follows: 

"Mr.  CHAIRMAN:  —  We  come,  in  behalf  the  people  of 
Jersey  City,  to  express  the  deep  sympathy  which  we  all 
feel  in  the  loss  of  the  distinguished  statesman,  whose  re- 
mains you  have  in  charge.  He  has  fallen  in  the  autumn 
of  life,  laden  with  its  richest  honors.  But,  '  We  come  to 
bury,  not  to  praise  him.'  We  desire  to  unite  with  you  in 

43 


Obsequies  of 


this  solemn,  mournful  procession,  and  render  every  service 
in  our  power,  befitting  this  melancholy  occasion,  and  to 
invite  you  to  remain  in  our  city  a 'Sufficient  length  of  time 
to  allow  its  citizens  an  opportunity  of  paying  their  last 
sad  tribute  of  respect  to  the  illustrious  dead,  whom  in  life 
they  never  failed  to  honor." 

Senator  UNDERWOOD  responded  in  a  brief  but  chaste 
and  feeling  address,  in  which  he  adverted  to  the  public 
and  private  worth  of  the  deceased  statesman — to  which  a 
tribute  has  been  paid  by  the  people  along  the  entire  route 
from  Washington.  He  also  expressed  his  desire  that  the 
request  for  the  resting  of  the  remains  at  Jersey  City  be 
granted. 

At  the  arrival  of  the  cars,  minute-guns  were  fired,  and 
the  bells  were  tolled.  The  procession  was  formed  at  the 
depot,  and  marched  to  the  boat.  The  Jersey  City  Conti- 
nentals, as  a  guard  of  honor,  and  the  officers  of  the  Hudson 
Brigade,  accompanied  by  a  band  of  music,  escorted  the 
procession  of  the  various  committees  to  the  boat.  As 
they  moved  through  the  streets,  the  heads  of  the  entire 
mass  of  spectators  were  uncovered,  and  not  a  voice  dis- 
turbed the  effect  of  the  measured  tramp  of  the  feet,  the 
deep,  sad  music  of  the  funeral  march,  or  the  more  distant 
tolling  bells  and  booming  cannon.  Tears  fell  from  many 
eyes.  As  soon  as  all  were  on  board  the  boat  Philadelphia, 
she  moved  off  into  the  stream,  and  on  her  way  to  the 
Battery,  Mayor  MANNERS  returned  the  remains  to  the 
Senatorial  Committee,  with  some  appropriate  remarks, 
and  introduced  AMBROSE  C.  KINGSLAND,  Mayor  of  New 
York,  to  the  Committee,  who,  in  behalf  of  the  City  of 
New  York  Committee,  received  the  charge.  During  the 


passage  of  the  steamer,  a  very  beautifully  arranged  wreath, 
composed  of  oak  leaves,  was  presented  by  Dr.  BENJAMIN 
DRAKE  to  the  Senatorial  Committee,  with  the  following 
address,  viz  : 

"  GENTLEMEN  SENATORS: — In  behalf  of  the  Clay  Festival 
Association,  I  respectfully  ask  your  permission  to  place 
near  the  body  of  our  illustrious  friend  a  last  but  humble, 
though  fitting  testimonial  of  our  regard  and  affection.  It 
is  a  civic  WREATH,  composed  not  of  the  laurel,  the  trium- 
phant gatherings  of  the  battle  field,  but  of  the  leaves  of 
the  oak.  Such  a  decoration  the  Romans  of  old  were  wont 
to  bestpw  upon  their  most  meritorious  citizens.  We  loved 
Mr.  CLAY  in  life,  and  his  memory  is  near  to  us  in  death. 
We  have  further  to  ask  that  a  delegation  from  our  body, 
may  be  permitted  to  attend  his  honored  remains  to  their 
final  resting  place,  in  Kentucky." 

Senator  UNDERWOOD,  in  behalf  of  the  Committee  of  the 
Senate,  briefly  assented,  and  stated  in  reference  to  the  em- 
blem of  the  oak  leaves,  that  it  was  in  keeping  with  all  that 
had  transpired  on  the  route  from  the  Capitol  to  this  city. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  boat  at  the  wharf,  the  coffin  was 
placed  in  a  splendidly  decorated  open  hearse,  drawn  by 
eight  gray  horses,  appropriately  caparisoned.  The  pro- 
cession was  formed  in  the  following  order: 

Sergeants-at-Arms  of  both  Boards. 

The  Mayor. 

Presidents  of  the  Boards  of  Aldermen  and  Assistants. 
Sergeant-at-Arms  of  the  Senate. 

The  Senate  Committee. 
The  Common  Council  of  New  York. 

45 


Obsequies  °f 


The  Common  Council  of  Jersey  City. 

The  Jersey  City  Continentals. 

Citizens  of  New  Jersey,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore  and 
Washington. 


WASHINGTON  GREYS, 

AS    A 

GUARD  OF  HONOR. 


W 

CO 


w 

w 


WASHINGTON  GREYS, 

AS   A 

GUARD  OF  HONOR. 


Clay  Festival  Association,  as  mourners. 

The  Whig  General  Committee, 
Democratic  Whig  Young  Men's  Committee.  . 
Citizens. 

The  procession  moved  up  Broadway  to  Chatham  street, 
up  Chatham  street  to  the  east  gate  of  the  Park,  when  they 
entered  and  rested  in  front  of  the  City  Hall.  The  body 
was  then  taken  from  the  hearse  and  conveyed  to  the  Gov- 
ernor's room,  (which  had  been  appropriately  trimmed  for 
the  occasion,)  followed  by  the  military  and  the  committees. 
It  was  then  placed  upon  a  beautiful  cenotaph;  and  as  soon 
as  the  sentinels  were  stationed  to  guard  the  coffin,  the 
anxious  multitude  were  allowed  to  walk  around  the  bier, 
and  take  a  last  look  of  that  which  contained  but  the  dust  of 
HENRY  CLAY. 

As  the  procession  passed  along  to  the  City  Hall,  the 
bells  were  tolled,  minute  guns  were  fired  from  the  Battery, 
the  forts  and  shipping  in  the  harbor.  The  buildings 
along  the  line  of  the  procession,  and  in  other  parts  of  the 
city,  were  dressed  in  mourning.  There  was  an  almost 
entire  cessation  from  business,  and  a  general  feeling  of 
grief  seemed  to  pervade  our  whole  population. 

46 


The  body  remained  in  the  Governor's  room  during  the 
night  and  throughout  the  next  day  (Sunday,  July  4th,  the 
seventy-sixth  anniversary  of  American  Independence.) 
The  inhabitants  of  this  city,  Brooklyn,  Williamsburgh, 
Hoboken,  Staten  Island  and  other  places  adjacent  to  New 
York,  availed  themselves  of  this  opportunity  of  rendering 
their  mite  to  the  general  sorrow  of  the  nation,  and  testify- 
ing their  love,  admiration  and  respect  of  the  illustrious 
dead,  and  to  take  a  final  look  at  the  coffin  wherein  is  con- 
fined all  that  remains  of  the  once  great  man  of  the  nation  ! 
There  he  lay,  on  the  very  spot  where,  a  few  years  ago,  he 
stood  proudly  erect,  affable,  and  self-possessed — the  pleased 
and  pleasing  recipient  of  a  people's  homage — admiring 
women  crowding  the  levee,  happy  to  grasp  his  hand,  and 

47 


of 


little  girls  pressing  onward  to  snatch  a  kiss  from  his  ven- 
erable lips.  On  that  very  spot — lifeless  and  wasting — en- 
cased in  iron  cerements — there  reposed  all  that  remained 
of  the  great,  illustrious,  and  almost  worshipped,  HENRY 
CLAY.  What  an  impressive  contrast !  The  glorious  an- 
niversary of  our  country's  independence  was  full  of  the 
manifestations  of  public  grief.  The  stars  and  stripes  of 
our  national  banners  were  darkened  with  the  emblems  of 
mourning.  The  flags  at  half  mast,  the  tolling  bells,  the 
minute-gun,  the  muffled  drum,  the  solemn  countenance  and 
the  mournful  tread  of  the  passing  spectator,  told  of  a  na- 
tion's sorrow  for  the  loss  of  one  of  the  most  illustrious  and 
loved  in  its  councils. 

The  facilities  for  admitting  visitors  were  admirably  ar- 
ranged. Upwards  of  one  hundred  thousand  persons  visited 
the  remains  during  the  evening  of  Saturday  and  on  Sunday. 
There  was  a  constant  procession  passing  throughout  the 
day,  and  all  conducted  without  the  slighest  confusion. 
The  coffin  and  floor  around  the  cenotaph,  was  covered  with 
flowers,  which  the  affection  of  visitors,  prompted  with  feel- 
ings of  gratitude,  to  place  near  the  body  as  they  passed  by. 


jQeptturt  0f  tire  geirctms  from  Jfcto 

LEAVING  THE    CITY   HALL. 

AT  two  o'clock,  on  Monday  morning,  the  remains  of 
HENRY  CLAY  were  removed  from  the  Governor's  room, 
accompanied  by  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  of  the 
Common  Council,  escorted  by  Company  D,  Washington 
Greys,  as  guard  of  honor,  with  the  Clay  Festival  Associa- 
tion, as  pall  bearers,  to  the  steamboat  Santa  Glaus,  (which 

48 


had  been  chartered  to  convey  the  remains  to  Albany,) 
lying  at  the  foot  of  Murray  street. 


The  scene  was  solemn  and  impressive,  as  the  full  moo.i 
lent  its  rays  to  lighten  the  pathway  of  the  funeral  p  oces- 
sion;  the  slow  march,  the  tolling  bell,  and  the  mournful 
roll  of  the  muffled  drum  added  to  the  general  solemnity. 
At  the  moment  when  the  association  and  guard  of  honor 
were  drawn  up  in  line,  to  permit  the  remains  to  pass  to 
the  boat,  the  band  suddenly  struck  up  the  air,  "  Should 
old  acquaintance  be  forgot."  The  effect  cannot  be  de- 
scribed— there  was  scarcely  a  dry  eye  in  the  whole  assem- 


)  se 


blage.  The  steamboat  was  decorated  in  a  neat  and  ap- 
propriate manner — the  outside  being  festooned  with  black 
and  white  linen,  while  the  flags,  which  run  half  mast, 
were  trimmed  with  crape.  The  ladies'  cabin  was  hung 
with  crape,  and  in  the  centre  was  arranged  a  cenotaph, 
upon  which  the  coffin  was  placed,  and  then  covered  with 
a  heavy  black  velvet  pall.  A  committee  of  six  of  the  mili- 
tary and  six  of  the  Clay  Festival  Association,  waited  as 
guard  until  the  hour  arrived  for  the  boat  to  start. 

The  coffin,  which  rested  in  the  saloon,  was  covered  with 
a  magnificent  canopy  of  crape,  and  on  the  top  were  strewn 
flowers  of  the  choicest  kind.  Near  the  head  was  a  beau- 
tiful wreath,  made  from  the  "  IMMOKTILLE  "  (or  life  everlast- 
ing flower)  brought  from  France,  and  presented  by  Mrs. 
ANN  S.  STEPHENS,  the  poetess,  with  a  request  that  it  might 
be  placed  on  the  tomb  of  HENRY  CLAY,  in  Kentucky.  It 
is  a  bright  yellow,  while  a  cross  of  a  dark  brown  of  the 
same  flower  is  worked  in  it.  It  was  admired  by  all  as  a  fit 
emblem  to  the  memory  of  HENRY  CLAY,  who  will  live  for- 
ever in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen.  The  civic  wreath, 
presented  by  the  Clay  Festival  Association,  and  with  the 
same  request,  also  adorned  the  top,  while  the  laurel  wreath 
from  Philadelphia,  and  the  boquets  from  Baltimore  and 
Washington  were  placed  around  it,  and  had  all  maintained 
their  fragrance  and  beauty* 

DEPARTURE  FROM  NEW  YORK. 

At  11  o'clock,  a  gun  was  fired,  which  was  the  signal  for 
starting — the  bell  commenced  tolling,  and  the  boat  was 
soon  underway.  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  funeral 
cortege : 

50 


Mourners. — THOMAS  H.  CLAY,  son  of  Mr.  CLAY;  HENEY 
CLAY,  Jr.,  grandson,  Lexington;  Hon.  Mr.  WHITE,  Ken- 
tucky; Hon.  Mr.  WILLIAMS,  Kentucky;  Mrs.  CARTER. 

Senate  Committee. — Hon.  J.  R.  UNDERWOOD, Hon.  J.  C. 
JONES,  Hon.  E.  F.  STOCKTON,  Hon.  H.  FISH,  Hon.  S. 
HOUSTON,  Hon.  L.  CASS. 

ROBERT  BEALS,  Sergeant-at-Arms,  U.  S.  Senate;  R.  P. 
ANDERSON,  Assistant  do. 

Committee  in  charge  of  the  coffin. 
Committee  of  the  Clay  Festival  Association,  to  escort 
the  remains  to  Lexington. 

Common  Council  of  New  York. 
Company  D,  Washington  Greys. 
Clay  Festival  Association. 
Delegations  from  the  General  Committees. 
Invited  Guests. 


m 


PASSAGE   UP   THE  RIVER. 

The  bell  of  the  steamer  was  kept  constantly  tolling,  and 
as  we  passed  the  steamboats  upon  the  river,  bound  for 
New  York,  they  stopped  for  a  few  moments,  lowered  their 
flags  at  half  mast,  minute-guns  were  exchanged,  and  they 
commenced  tolling  their  bells.  At  all  the  landings  we 
passed,  similar  demonstrations  were  shown.  As  we  neared 
West  Point,  the  booming  cannon  reverberated  from  hill  to 
hill.  Cozzens'  Hotel  immediately  lowered  the  American 
flag,  and  as  we  passed  West  Point  a  body  of  the  cadets  were 
drawn  up  in  line,  and  stood  on  the  embankment,  with  heads 
uncovered.  A  national  salute  was  fired  from  the  boat, 
while  the  band  on  the  boat  played  a  beautiful  funeral  dirge. 

51 


Obsequies 


At  NEWBUKGH,  where  the  boat  arrived  soon  after  three 
o'clock,  and  where  there  was  a  grand  celebration,  the 
cortege  was  honored  with  a  national  salute  of  thirteen 
guns,  fired  one  each  minute.  The  boat  was  detained  here 
some  twenty  minutes,  during  which  time  the  citizens  were 
allowed  to  pass  on  board  and  view  the  coffin.  The  great- 
est feeling  was  manifested,  and  the  flags  that  had  been 
raised  to  celebrate  our  country's  national  day,  were  low- 
ered to  half  mast,  as  a  token  of  respect  for  the  memory  of 
the  deceased.  The  church  bells  were  tolled  as  the  boat 
left  the  wharf,  and  minute-guns  were  fired. 

POUGHKEEPSIE. — As  we  passed  the  village  of  Pough- 
keepsie,  crowds  had  assembled  on  the  adjoining  hills  and 
docks.  The  flags  were  at  half  mast,  and  the  people  stood 
with  heads  uncovered.  A  small  boat  came  out  from  the 
shore,  and  threw  on  board  a  beautiful  boquet,  to  which 
was  attached  a  note,  which  read  as  follows  : 

"  The  Ladies  of  Poughkeepsie  in  memory  of  HENRY  CLAY." 

HYDE  PARK. — Here  the  people  assembled  on  the  wharf 
in  large  numbers,  and  stood  with  heads  uncovered  as  the 
boat  passed;  a  salute  was  fired  from  the  shore,  and  the 
American  flag,  trimmed  with  crape,  floated  at  half  mast. 

KINGSTON  AND  RHINEBECK. — The  bells  were  tolling  as 
we  passed  by  these  two  places,  minute-guns  were  fired,  and 
every  token  of  the  deepest  sympathy  manifested. 

As  we  passed  the  residence  of  General  DE  PEYSTER,  at 
Tivoli,  we  noticed  a  portion  of  his  regiment  drawn  up  in 
line,  and  when  the  boat  was  directly  opposite,  they  fired 
a  volley,  as  if  firing  over  the  grave  of  a  comrade. 


The  grounds  were  tastefully  trimmed  in  mourning,  and 
from  the  boat  presented  a  beautiful  appearance. 

The  "  LIVINGSTON  "  places  were  also  decorated  in  mourn- 
ing, and  had  guns  stationed  on  prominent  points,  firing 
salutes. 

UPPER  AND  LOWER  RED  HOOK — BRISTOL  AND  CATSKILL, 
presented  the  same  tokens  of  the  general  grief. 

HUDSON. — The  docks  and  Round  House  Hill  were  com- 
pletely crowded  with  people.  We  noticed  thirty-one  young 
ladies,  dressed  in  white,  with  black  scarfs  thrown  across 
their  shoulders,  and  in  their  right  hands  the  American  flag, 
trimmed  with  black  crape.  The  boat  stopped  her  engine 
as  we  went  by — minute-guns  were  fired  and  bells  tolled. 

From  Hudson  up  to  Albany,  there  was  a  constant  firing 
of  cannon  from  the  shore,  and  every  demonstration  was 
shown  to  tell  the  grief  the  whole  country  felt. 

During  the  day  we  passed  the  steamboats  North  Amer- 
ica, Columbia,  Armenia  and  Utica,  each  one  of  which  stop- 
ped as  we  went  by,  lowered  their  colors  and  tolled  their 
bells. 

The  steamboat  Baltic,  of  Albany,  having  on  board  the 
Committee  of  Arrangements,  the  Whig  General  Committee, 
a  delegation  of  the  Democratic  Committee,  and  one  hun- 
dred of  the  Burgess  Corps  and  citizens,  came  down  the 
river  to  meet  the  Santa  Glaus.  The  Baltic  remained  at 
Castleton;  and  at  half  past  nine  o'clock  the  approach  of 
the  Santa  Glaus  was  announced  by  the  tolling  of  bells  and 
the  firing  of  minute-guns.  The  Baltic's  bell  commenced 


Obsc(]t(ies  of 


tolling,  and   minute-guns  were  fired  in  response  to  the 
Santa_Claus. 

The  Albany  Committee  of  Arrangements  having  been 
received  on  board  the  latter  boat  by  the  Committee  of  the 
New  York  Common  Council,  and  introduced  to  the  Sena- 
torial Committee,  the  Baltic  led  the  way  to  Albany.  The 
night  was  perfectly  still,  and  not  a  sound  was  heard  upon 
the  water  but  the  tolling  of  the  bells  on  the  boats,  and 
the^booming  of  the  minute-guns,  now  answered  at  Albany. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  the  boats  at  Albany,  the  body  of  Mr. 
CLAY  was  placed  in  the  possession  of  the  Corporate  au- 
thorities by  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Arrange- 
ments, with  the  following  remarks: 

GENTLEMEN  OP  THE  CORPORATION  OF  THE  CITY  OF  AL- 
BANY : — As  the  representatives  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
we  have  a  mournful  duty  to  perform.  Within  a  few  days 
we  were  honored  with  the  custody  of  a  relic  of  inestimable 
value, — we  were  intrusted  with  the  mortal  remains  of 
HENRY  CLAY,  the  venerated  sage — the  pure  patriot,  and 
the  distinguished  statesman. 

It  now  becomes  our  sad  office,  having,  we  believe,  faith- 
fully performed  our  trust,  to  impose  upon  your  honored  city 
the  same  pleasing  but  melancholy  duty  that  was  assigned 
us.  Pleasing — because  you  have  within  your  keeping  the 
"  last  of  earth  "  of  one  of  the  most  brilliant  sons  of  this 
great  and  prosperous  nation; — melancholy,  because,  by  this 
afflicting  dispensation  of  Divine  Providence,  our  country 
has  sustained  an  irreparable  loss.  We  have  been  permit- 
ted to  drop  a  sympathetic  tear  over  the  body  of  this  great 
and  good  man,  who,  though  now  dead,  yet  speaketh  through 

54 


iU>)ivt|  Olqjj. 


his  glorious  works.  His  memory  is  embalmed  in  the  recol- 
lections of  a  grateful  and  devoted  people,  and  his  precepts 
are  indelibly  stamped  upon  their  hearts. 

We  mourn  his  loss,  not  as  those  who  mourn  without 
hope  ;  for  although  the  mortal  part  of  him,  whose  elo- 
quence, virtue  and  wisdom  is  the  admiration  of  the  world, 
be  dead,  still,  we  sincerely  believe  his  .spirit  has  fled  to 
happy  regions  of  eternal  bliss,  and,  like  a  guardian  angel, 
watches  over  and  points  us  to  his  precepts  and  examples. 

Sirs,  this  valuable  relic  of  the  immortal  HENRY  CLAY, 
we  confide  to  your  care,  with  the  assurance  that  while  it 
remains  in  your  keeping,  it  will  be  treasured  and  appre- 
ciated with  as  high  consideration  as  his  life  was  virtuous 
and  patriotic. 

It  is  now  upon  its  way  to  its  final  resting-place,  where 
we  hope  it  may  peacefully  rest  until  it  is  awakened  by  the 
thrilling  call  from  the  great  trump  on  the  resurrection 
morn. 

The  remains  were  received  by  Alderman  JAMES  D.  WAS- 
sox,  in  behalf  of  the  Corporate  authorities  of  Albany,  in  a 
very  touching  and  eloquent  response. 

The  body  was  taken  on  shore  and  placed  in  a  splendid 
funeral  car,  when  a  procession  of  military,  firemen,  and 
citizens  generally,  speedily  formed,  notwithstanding  the 
lateness  of  the  hour, — eleven  o'clock.  The  public  build- 
ings and  many  of  the  stores  and  houses  on  the  line  of  the 
procession  were  draped  in  mourning,  and  brilliantly  illu- 
minated. 

As  the  procession  passed  up  State  street,  (the  firemen 
bearing  torches)  the  scene  was  one  of  the  most  impressive 
and  remarkable  that  had  occurred  since  the  remains  left 

55 


0hsjt)nigs  of 

— — — —^— ^^— B™..™— ™™™.^^ 

Washington.  Arriving  at  the  gates  of  the  capitol,  the  mil- 
itary opened  to  the  left,  and  the  remains  were  removed 
from  the  car  and  carried  into  the  hall  of  the  capitol. 
The  closing  ceremonies  occupied  until  near  two  o'clock, 
when  the  doors  of  the  capitol  were  closed,  and  the  Burgess 
Corps  were  left  in  charge,  as  a  guard  of  honor. 


of  tin  ^Unuuns  from 


A  special  train  of  cars  were  in  readiness  to  receive  the 
corps  at  half-past  eight  o'clock.  As  they  passed  the  Man- 
sion House,  Company  D,  Washington  Greys,  Capt.  JAMES 
LITTLE,  of  New  York  city,  to  whom  all  honor  be  given, 
in  their  devotion  to  the  remains  of  Mr.  CLAY,  were  drawn 
up  in  line,  and  paid  the  usual  military  honors.  The  Bur- 
gess Corps  accompanied  the  remains  to  Buffalo.  A  large 
crowd  of  spectators  had  gathered  at  the  depot,  anxious  to 
catch  a  last  look  of  the  coffin  that  contained  the  remains  of 
the  illustrious  dead.  At  nine  o'clock,  precisely,  the  train, 
consisting  of  three  passenger  cars  and  a  locomotive,  appro- 
priately trimmed,  left  the  depot.  The  crowd  taking  off 
their  hats  as  the  cars  moved  out — the  utmost  silence  was 
preserved,  the  deepest  feeling  was  manifested. 

Your  Committee,  after  taking  leave  of  the  mourners, 
Senate  Committee,  and  others,  accompanying  the  body  to 
Kentucky,  the  authorities  and  people  of  Albany,  and  hav- 
ing, in  their  humble  judgment,  performed  their  duty  to  the 
honored  dead,  returned  to  the  boat,  which  soon  after  de- 
parted for  New  York,  where  they  arrived  early  on  the 
following  morning. 

56 


ifcnrifGiqlf. 


Simultaneous  with  the  proceedings  of  the  Common  Coun- 
cil, and  the  action  of  your  Committee,  several  of  the  Civic 
Societies  of  this  city,  Members  of  the  Bar,  and  others, 
held  meetings  and  adopted  the  following  proceedings  : 

THE  SOCIETY  OF  CINCINNATI. 

NEW  YORK,  JULY  2,  1852. 

The  Corporation  of  this  city  have  decided  to  render  ap- 
propriate honors  to  the  memory  of  the  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY, 
deceased,  who  has  been  so  highly  distinguished  for  his  pre- 
eminent talents,  the  purity  and  disinterestedness  of  his 
patriotism,  and  his  uniform  devotion  to  the  great  interests 
of  his  country,  during  his  long  and  useful  life  ;  and  the 
members  of  our  society,  being  descendants  of  those  pa- 
triots who  fought  the  battles  of  the  revolution,  which 
secured  to  our  beloved  country  its  independence,  and  the 
power  to  establish  our  glorious  Union  ;  and  as  this  dis- 
tinguished patriot  has,  on  all  occasions,  by  his  great 
talents,  his  energy  and  perseverance,  eminently  contribu- 
ted to  sustain  and  preserve  that  Union  ;  it  is,  therefore, 
proper  that  we  should  unite  with  our  fellow-citizens  in 
rendering  the  highest  honors  to  his  memory.  The  mem- 
bers of  this  society  will  assemble  at  the  City  Hall  to-day, 
at  the  hour  designated  by  the  Committee  of  the  Corpora- 
tion, in  their  advertisement  in  the  papers,  for  the  ceremo- 
nies to  take  place,  for  the  purpose  of  joining  in  the  solem- 
nities to  be  observed  on  the  melancholy  occasion. 

By  order. 

GEN.  ANTHONY  LAMB,  Pres't. 
E.  P.  MARCELLIN,  Secretary. 

57 


Obsequies  of 


CLAY  FESTIVAL  ASSOCIATION.* 

Immediately  upon  the  melancholy  tidings  of  the  death 
of  HENRY  CLAY  reaching  this  city,  the  following  notice 
was  issued  to  the  members  of  the  Association  : 

"CLAY  FESTIVAL  ASSOCIATION. —  The  Great  Commoner  is  no  more! 
HENRY  CLAY  sleeps  with  the  departed  Patriots  of  the  Republic .'—  The 
members  of  this  Association  are  notified  that  a  meeting  will  be  held  at  City 
Hotel,  corner  of  Broadway  and  Howard  streets,  on  this  (Wednesday)  even- 
ing, June  30th,  1852,  at  8  o'clock,  to  take  such  action  as  may  be  proper  in 
paying  a  just  tribute  to  the  memory  of  HENRY  CLAY. 

M.  R.  BREWER,  President. 
KENNETH  G.  WHITE, 
JOSIAH  P.  KNAPP, 

JAS.  L.  BERRIEN,  Secretary. 


Vice  Presidents. 


A  large  number  responded  to  the  call,  when  M.  E. 
BREWER,  Esq.,  the  President,  addressed  the  Association, 
alluding,  in  a  very  pathetic  and  eloquent  manner,  to  the 
great  and  irreparable  loss  the  whole  nation  had  sustained, 
and  announced  that  the  object  of  the  present  meeting  was 
mainly  to  adopt  measures  suitable  to  the  occasion,  and  to 
render  a  fitting  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the 
great  Commoner,  HENRY  CLAY. 

Upon  motion,  it  was  unanimously  resolved,  that  a  com- 
mittee be  appointed  to  prepare  resolutions,  expressive  of 
the  sentiments  and  feelings  of  the  Association. 

It  was  further  resolved  that  a  committee  be  appointed  to 
confer  with  the  public  authorities;  that  a  deputation  pro- 
ceed to  Washington,  to  meet  the  remains  of  Mr.  CLAY;  that 
the  room  be  hung  in  mourning  for  the  space  of  six  months, 
and  that  the  members  wear  the  usual  badge  for  thirty  days. 

*  This  Association  was  organized  in  1845,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  commemorat- 
ing the  birthday  of  HENRY  CLAY;  and  its  annual  festivals  have  always  been 
marked  with  the  highest  enthusiasm,  indicative  of  the  love  and  admiration  of  the 
members  for  the  sage  and  patriot. 

53 


tUDI'jJ   tlujf. 


FRIDAY,  JULY  2. 

The  meeting  of  the  Association,  numerously  attended, 
met  pursuant  to  adjournment.  M.  R.  BREWEK,  Esq.,  in 
the  chair,  assisted  by  two  Vice  Presidents. 

KENNETH  G.  WHITE,  Esq.,  from  the  committee  appointed 
to  draft  resolutions,  reported  the  following  : 

Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  HENRY  CLAY,  whose  pub- 
lic life  was  a  continued  benefit  and  blessing  to  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  this  Association  has  sustained  a 
calamity  awakening  the,  most  poignant  feelings  of  regret, 
and  the  deepest  emotions  of  sorrow. 

Resolved,  That  assembling  once  more  in  the  place  where 
we  have  so  often  met  to  rejoice  in  some  fresh  triumph  of 
his  commanding  genius,  or  to  do  homage  to  some  new  dis- 
play of  his  exalted  patriotism  ;  though  it  is  with  subdued 
and  saddened  feelings  we  stand  here,  like  bereaved  chil- 
dren around  the  grave  of  a  beloved  father;  we  still  expe- 
rience a  feeling  of  noble  exultation  in  the  recollection  that 
his  whole  life  bore  testimony  to  his  lofty  sentiment,  that  he 

"  WOULD  RATHER  BE  RIGHT  THAN  BE  PRESIDENT." 

Resolved,  That  while  the  nation  mourns  the  loss  of  her 
purest  patriot,  her  most  gifted  statesman,  her  wisest  sage, 
and  her  first  citizen,  it  is  ours  to  sorrow  over  a  departed 
father,  guide  and  protector.  That  while  theirs  is  the  grief 
of  friendship,  ours  is  the  keener  sorrow  of  kindred. 

Resolved,  That  our  affection  for  the  illustrious  deceased 
was  not  the  blind  attachment  of  political  partizanship,  but 
the  higher,  purer  and  nobler  devotion,  inspired  by  the 
spotless  integrity  of  his  character,  his  lofty  and  disinter- 
ested patriotism,  his  enlightened  statesmanship,  and  his 
imperishable  devotion  to  the  interests  and  the  honor  of 

59 


of 


the  country,  of  which  he  was  the  most  distinguished  orna- 
ment. 

Resolved,  That  while  with  sorrowing  hearts  and  trem- 
bling hands  we  record  the  loss  sustained  by  ourselves,  by 
the  country,  and  by  mankind;  still  it  is  not  without  holy 
joy  and  consolation  that  we  look  back  to  the  sublime  ex- 
ample of  his  virtues,  and  the  unclouded  purity  of  his  fame. 
In  these,  a  priceless  inheritance  descends  to  future  ages 
from  his  life;  and  his  death  bequeaths  a  still  richer  legacy, 
as  illustrating,  in  one  of  the  greatest  of  our  race,  the  divine 
truth,  that  "  this  corruptible  shall  put  on  incorruption, 
and  this  mortal  put  on  immortality."  Down  from  the 
heights  of  heaven,  the  eloquent  voice  of  the  sainted  patriot 
and  sage  comes  thrilling  to  our  hearts  in  the  touching  lan- 
guage of  paternal  affection — "  MAY  you  TOO  DIE  THE 
DEATH  OF  THE  RIGHTEOUS,"  and  readily,  heartily  and  sol- 
emnly do  we  respond — "MAY  OUR  END  BE  LIKE  HIS !" 

Resolved,  That  we  tender  to  the  relations  and  family  of 
the  deceased  our  heart-felt  sympathies  in  this  heavy  afflic- 
tion, and  that  we  mourn  and  sorrow  with  them  in  a  com- 
mon bereavement. 

Resolved,  That  the  rooms  of  our  Association  be  hung  in 
mourning  for  six  months,  and  that  the  individual  members 
wear  the  usual  badge  for  thirty  clays. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  furnished 
to  his  family,  signed  by  the  members  of  the  Association. 

The  resolutions  were  seconded  by  ERASTUS  BROOKS,  Esq., 
as  follows : 

"  Mr.  CHAIRMAN  : — I  cannot  suffer  the  question  to  be  put 
upon  the  resolutions  which  have  been  read,  without  the  ut- 
terance of  one  word  from  some  member  of  this  Association 

CO 


in  their  behalf.  I  know  how  idle  for  the  dead  are  our 
words  of  praise  and  our  tears  of  sorrow;  but  among  the 
survivors  of  the  dead  the  heart  finds  relief  in  contemplat- 
ing the  greatness  and  in  reciting  the  virtues  of  those  whose 
presence  on  earth  we  are  not  permitted  to  recall.  Our 
great  political  father,  the  friend  of  our  youth  and  of  our 
mature  years,  is  DEAD  !  The  wise  counselor  of  the  gov- 
ernment, through  more  than  forty  years  of  public  service, 
is  NO  MOKE  !  The  constant  and  consistent  advocate  of  con- 
stitutional liberty,  the  peace-maker  of  the  country,  abroad 
and  at  home — the  defender  of  the  freedom  of  the  oppressed 
•in  the  old  world  and  the  new,  now  sleeps  the  sleep  of  death. 
He  rests  from  his  labors;  and,  at  peace  with  GOD  and  man, 
his  spirit  reposes  in  the  blissful  quiet  of  that  celestial  par- 
adise toward  which  all  his  entire  heart,  and  all  his  hopes 
finally  aspired. 

"  The  funeral  procession  of  HENRY  CLAY  is  now  march- 
ing from  the  city  of  Washington,  where  the  great  statesman 
died,  and  where  he  rendered  so  many  eventful  services  to 
his  country,  to  the  destined  repose  of  the  grave  in  his  own 
Kentucky.  His  body,  surrounded  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  cabinet  ministers,  by  statesmen  of  all 
parties,  by  the  representatives  of  the  army  and  navy,  by 
senators  and  representatives  in  congress,  by  foreign  am- 
bassadors, and  by  the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  earth, 
has  been  mantled  and  coffined  in  the  Senate  chamber, 
which  he  adorned  by  his  presence  and  immortalized  by  his 
genius.  The  light  of  heaven  has  for  the  last  time  looked 
down  through  the  dome  of  the  capitol,  the  corner-stone  of 
which  was  laid  by  GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  upon  the  remains 
of  him,  who  sought,  by  word  and  deed,  through  all  his  life, 
to  illustrate  and  defend  the  principles  of  the  Father  of  his 


0bs 


Country.  His  seat  is  vacant,  and  no  more  shall  we  there 
behold  his  majestic  form,  or  hear  the  music  of  that  voice 
which  charmed  all  our  ears,  and  made  captive  all  our 
hearts. 

"  The  applause  of  listening  senates  to  command  ; 

The  threats  of  pain  and  ruin  to  despise; 
To  scatter  plenty  o'er  a  smiling  land, 

And  read  his  history  in  a  nation's  eyes." 

was  the  ambition  of  HENRY  CLAY. 

"  But,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  will  not  now  add  to  the  recital  of 
his  virtues.  I  read  with  satisfaction,  sanctified  by  the  ca- 
lamity which  we  could  not  control,  of  the  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  who  with  full  hearts  and  streaming  eyes 
are  this  evening  doing  homage  to  the  memory  of  the  dead. 
To  night  his  body  rests  on  its  pilgrimage  to  the  tomb,  sur- 
rounded by  guards  of  honor,  composed  of  citizens,  senators 
and  soldiers,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  within  the  Hall 
of  Independence — a  fitting  resting  place  for  the  remains  of 
the  greatest  American  of  the  nineteenth  century,  as  WASH- 
INGTON was  of  that  age  which  gave  freedom  to  the  people 
and  a  constitution  to  the  government. 

"  Mr.  Chairman  : — The  funeral  train,  with  all  its  sad  at- 
tendants, will  be  here  to-morrow.  We  shall  not  see 
HENRY  CLAY  as  when  last  he  was  among  us,  surrounded 
by  the  beauty  and  gayety  of  the  ball-room,  the  genial  at- 
tractions of  the  festive  board,  and  with  eyes  beaming  with 
joy  as  they  gazed  upon  one  alike  loved,  honored  and  ad- 
mired. We  behold,  in  contrast  now  the  curtain  of  death, 
rising  before  us.  The  long  living  idol  of  our  hearts  is 
before  us,  voiceless  as  death,  and  inanimate  as  the  grave. 
The  sweet  sounds  of  a  past  welcome  which  thrilled  all 
hearts,  and  the  glad  strains  of  past  merriment  which  stirred 

62 


ttenlrjj  6lqjj. 


the  blood  within  our  veins  to  quicker  motion,  and  a  new 
life,  has  changed  to  the  solemn  dirge,  the  deep  tolling  bell, 
and  the  minute  gun.  All  that  we  see  and  hear  reminds  us 
of  a  void  never  on  earth  to  be  filled.  But  let  us  thank 
GOD  that  though  men  die,  our  love,  our  affections,  and  our 
remembrances  of  their  virtues,  live.  The  summer  shall 
pass,  and  the  fresh  green  leaves  around  us  fade  away  with 
the  decay  of  nature,  as  the  autumn  and  winter  of  the 
year  shall,  like  kindred  drops,  mingle  their  days  together; 
but  in  all  seasons,  may  the  life  and  death,  the  principles 
and  the  example  of  HENRY  CLAY  bloom,  as  in  perpetual 
youth,  in  the  hearts  of  all  true  patriots  and  good  men." 

The  meeting  was  also  impressively  and  feelingly  ad- 
dressed by  Hon.  WILLIS  HALL  and  others. 

The  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted,  ordered  to 
be  engrossed  on  parchment,  and  enclosed  in  a  suitable  case, 
to  be  transmitted  to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 

These  resolutions  were  engrossed,  and  have  been  enclo- 
sed in  a  case,  of  which  the  following  is  an  illustration  : 

The  case  is  a  column,  designed  and  executed  by 
Mr.  JOHN  MOST,  emblematic  of  the  position  of 
HENRY  CLAY,  in  the  history  of  his  country — a 
"  PILLAR  OP  THE  STATE."  The  shaft  is  of  beau- 
tiful ebony,  in  token  of  mourning  ;  the  base  and 
capital  aYe  of  ivory,  elaborately  carved  with  the 
leaves  of  the  oak  and  acorns.  The  ornaments 
are  silver  bands,  embossed  also  with  the  leaves 
of  the  oak.  The  capital  is  "removable,  and  in 
the  hollow  of  the  column  is  deposited  the  scroll 
containing  the  resolutions,  signed  by  the  indi- 
vidual members  of  the  Association. 

63 


I'  Obsequies  of 


Dr.  DRAKE,  the  chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee, 
reported  that  the  Joint  Committee  of  Arrangements  of  the 
Honorable  Common  Council,  had  kindly  allotted  to  the 
Association,  the  position  as  chief  mourners  of  the  illustri- 
ous dead,  upon  the  reception  of  his  remains  in  this  city, 
and  that  suitable  badges  would  be  provided  for  the  occa- 
sion, with  a  recommendation  to  the  members  to  appear  in 
black  clothing. 

The  chairman  further  reported  that  a  civic  wreath  had 
been  prepared,  to  be  placed  upon  the  coffin  of  our  illustri- 
ous and  venerated  friend. 

It  was  further  recommended  that  a  deputation,  consisting 
of  seven  of  the  associates,  be  selected  to  accompany  the 
remains  to  the  final  resting  place,  at  Lexington. 

All  of  which,  report  and  recommendation,  were  unani- 
mously approved,  and  the  following  named  gentlemen  were 
selected  as  the  deputation  to  accompany  the  remains. 


JOSEPH  M.  PRICE, 
JOSIAH  P.  KNAPP, 
ALFRED  G.  PECKHAM, 


JAMES  R.  WOOD, 

DAVID  WEBB, 

DANIEL  L.  PETTEE,  and 


NICHOLAS  CARROLL. 

In  accordance  with  the  previous  arrangements,  the  As- 
sociation assembled  at  the  Apollo  rooms,  on  the  morning 
of  July  3d,  1852; — the  members  dressed  in  black,  with 
crape  upon  the  left  arm — the  officers  wearing  black 
mourning  scarfs,  and,  preceded  by  their  Sergeant-at-Arms, 
marched  in  procession  to  Castle  Garden,  where  they  had 
been  invited  by  the  Honorable  Common  Council  to  ac- 
company them  in  a  steamboat,  to  receive  the  remains  at 
Jersey  City. 

64 


fterrty$Uf« 


After  a  short  detention  at  Jersey  City  the  corpse  ar- 
rived, and  was  received  on  board  of  the  boat,  the  Associa- 
tion having  formed  on  each  side  of  the  entrance.  The  bier 
was  carried  through,  escorted  by  the  military  of  Jersey 
City,  and  finally  committed  to  the  charge  of  the  authorities 
of  New  York,  in  an  eloquent  address  of  Senator  UNDER- 
WOOD, which  was  appropriately  responded  to  by  his  Honor 
A.  C.  KINGSLAND,  Mayor  of  the  city  of  New  York. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  the  remains  at  Castle  Garden,  the 
Association  formed,  accompanied  by  the  near  relatives  and 
neighbors  of  Mr.  CLAY,  immediately  behind  the  hearse,  and 
followed  the  remains  to  the  Governor's  room,  City  Hall. 

After  having  divided  themselves  into  committees  of  six, 
they  remained  constantly  in  attendance,  night  and  day,  at 
the  room  in  which  was  deposited  all  that  was  mortal  of  the 
great  commoner. 

In  accordance  with  the  previous  arrangement,  that  the 
remains  should  be  removed  on  the  morning  of  the  5th — the 
celebration  of  the  national  anniversary  occurring  on  that 
day — the  whole  Association  remained  in  attendance  at  the 
City  Hall,  for  the  purpose  of  accompanying  the  corpse  to 
the  boat;  and  at  two  o'clock  of  that  morning  they  formed 
in  procession  upon  each  side  of  the  bier,  in  the  capacity  of 
pall-bearers,  with  the  Washington  Greys  as  a  guard  of 
honor,  and  followed  by  the  Common  Council  as  mourners; 
they  proceeded  to  the  steamboat;  and  having  placed  a 
committee  to  remain  with  the  body,  they  again  marched 
to  the  Hall,  politely  escorted  by  the  same  company. 

They  then  adjourned  to  assemble  again  on  board  of  the 
boat,  when  a  large  deputation,  together  with  the  deputa- 
tion appointed  to  proceed  to  Kentucky,  accompanied  the 
remains  to  the  capitol  at  Albany. 


PROCEEDINGS   IN   THE   LAW    COURTS. 
.       UNITED  STATES  DISTRICT  COURT. 

JAYES  II.  WHITIXG,  Esq.,  rose  and  addressed  the  court 
as  follows : 

"  May  it  please  the  court,  I  rise  under  great  embar- 
rassment, to  announce  to  the  court,  the  sad  and  mourn- 
ful intelligence,  which  has  just  reached  us,  that  HENRY 
CLAY  is  dead.  His  spirit  has  departed  'to  that  bourn 
from  whence  no  traveler  returns.' 

"  This  event,  though  long  expected,  has  suddenly  come 
upon  us,  and  presents  to  our  serious  contemplation,  the 
subject  of  death.  The  public  pulse,  for  a  time,  will  almost 
cease  to  beat;  the  busy  places  of  trade  and  commerce  will 
be  hushed,  and  the  nation  will  put  on  her  habiliments  of 
mourning. 

"  A  great  man  has  fallen — gone — gone,  full  of  years,  and 
full  of  honors.  His  unwearied  soul,  taxed  to  its  utmost 
powers,  was  always  for  his  country's  honor — his  country's 
glory,  and  the  benefit  of  mankind.  His  life,  his  being 
and  his  actions  have  been  woven  in  tissues  of  his  country's 
greatness,  and  the  page  of  history  will  do  him  that  justice 
which  party  strife  has  hitherto  measurably  denied  him. 
Over  his  remains,  to  the  credit  of  the  nation,  all  men  will 
meet  to  do  him  reverence. 

"  This  is  not  the  time,  nor  this  the  place,  to  enlarge  upon 
his  character — to  speak  of  its  strength  or  weakness.  That 
he  was  faultless  cannot  be  said;  there  is  none  that  lives 
and  sinneth  not— no,  not  one.  That  his  motives  were 
pure,  noble,  lofty  and  patriotic,  but  few  will  deny. 

"  It  is  not  inappropriate  to  say,  that  he  was  ready  for  his 
departure — that  he  died  as  became  a  man  and  a  Christian, 

CG 


tteimi  t  i;|if. 


and  that  he  left  behind  him  the  evidence  of  a  good  hope  of 
an  endless  immortality.  It  is  hoped,  that  it  may  hereafter 
be  said  of  him,  'Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord, 
for  their  works  do  follow  them.'  In  respect  to  his  mem- 
ory, therefore,  I  most  respectfully  move  that  this  court 
do  now  adjourn." 

His  Honor  Judge  JUDSON,  in  reply  said  : 

"  The  announcement  of  these  sad  tidings  will  move  every 
American  heart  to  the  deepest  sorrow.  In  life,  HENRY 
CLAY  was  the  pride  and  boast  of  the  American  people,  and 
now  he  is  no  more — his  name  and  great  deeds  will  fill  the 
largest  page  in  our  history,  and  no  portion  of  that  history 
will  ever  be  read  with  more  interest,  or  reflect  higher 
honor  on  the  country. 

"  HENRY  CLAY  has  been  a  participator  in  all  the  great 
events  which  have  given  character  and  glory  to  this  nation, 
for  the  last  forty  years.  As  a  warm-hearted  patriot  and 
lover  of  freedom,  he  had  no  superior.  As  a  statesman,  upon 
the  broadest  scale,  he  had  but  few  equals.  As  an  orator, 
he  was  foremost  in  the  rank,  while  his  sympathies  reached 
the  oppressed  of  every  nation. 

"  This  is  not  an  inappropriate  place  to  entertain  the 
present  motion,  for  the  early  theatre  of  his  distinction  was 
the  Bar.  In  our  national  affairs  he  has  left  the  deep  im- 
press of  his  great  mind,  and  especially,  when  dangers  were 
thickening  around  us,  his  giant  intellect  devised  and  exe- 
cuted, (with  others,)  the  system  of  measures  which  has  im- 
parted new  strength  and  perpetuity  to  our  union. 

"  As  a  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  such  a  man, 
it  is  fit  and  proper  that  all  business  should  be  suspended  in 
this  court,  and  the  same  is  now  adjourned." 

67 


SUPREME    COURT — CIRCUIT. 


Mr.  EVARTS  addressed  his  Honor,  and  said  : 

"  May  it  please  the  court,  since  the  last  adjournment  of 
the  court,  the  rumor  which  reached  this  city  yesterday,  of 
the  death  of  HENRY  CLAY,  has  been  confirmed  by  full  in- 
telligence of  that  sad  event. 

"  I  rise,  sir,  to  move  that,  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the 
memory  of  that  eminent  lawyer  and  statesman,  this  court 
do  now  adjourn.  It  is  impossible  to  add,  by  any  expres- 
sion of  sentiment,  to  the  weight  of  sorrow  which  this  event 
has  brought  to  the  hearts  of  our  people  throughout  the 
land.  The  name,  the  character,  the  principles,  the  great 
public  services,  the  labors,  the  fame  of  HENRY  CLAY,  are 
known  everywhere;  and  fully  understood  and  recognized 
by  all  his  countrymen.  It  is,  sir,  as  a  just  token  of  re- 
spect for  his  eminent  character  and  position  that  I  move 
the  adjournment  of  the  court." 

His  Honor  Judge  EDWARDS,  in  reply,  said  : 

"  Although  the  event  which  has  been  alluded  to  has  been 
for  some  time  expected,  it  has  produced  sorrow  and  gloom 
throughout  the  community.  There  is  no  man  among  us 
who,  for  so  long  a  period,  has  acted  so  prominent  a  part  in 
the  affairs  of  the  nation  as  Mr.  CLAY.  At  the  time  when 
he  first  came  forward  in  public  life  our  government  was  yet 
regarded  as  an  experiment;  but  at  that  time  the  men  who 
had  carried  us  through  the  perils  of  the  Revolution  still  ex- 
ercised a  controlling  influence;  and  it  was  from  the  fathers 
of  the  republic  that  he  received  his  first  lessons  of  politi- 
cal wisdom.  He  no  sooner  appeared  in  our  national  coun- 
cils than  he  became  a  master-spirit ;  and,  at  an  age  when 

68 


most  men  are  acquiring  their  political  education,  he  be- 
came a  leader.  Upon  all  the  great  questions  which  have 
agitated  the  country  for  nearly  half  a  century,  his  influ- 
ence has  been  felt  and  acknowledged;  and  however  others 
may  have  differed  from  him  in  opinion,  no  one  doubted 
his  sincerity;  and  a^l  admired  his  earnestness,  boldness, 
and  ability.  He  had,  pre-eminently,  the  courage  and  the 
strength  of  will  which  inspire  confidence;  and  upon  every 
question,  involving  our  national  honor,  he  was  one  of  the 
noblest  of  American  patriots.  Owing  to  his  vigorous  con- 
stitution he  continued  to  participate  in  the  active  duties  of 
life  until  ho  had  arrived  at  an  age  when  the  powers  of 
most  men  are  exhausted.  He  was  fortunate  in  many  of 
the  circumstances  of  his  life;  and,  if  such  an  expression 
may  be  used  on  so  melancholy  an  occasion,  he  was  fortu- 
nate in  the  time  of  his  death.  During  the  closing  period 
of  his  days  he  had  withdrawn  from  party  politics;  and  he 
had  the  dying  consolation  that  his  last  energies  had  been 
successfully  devoted  to  the  preservation  of  peace,  harmony, 
and  union."  The  court  then  adjourned. 


SUPREME  COUET — SPECIAL  TERM. 

Mr.  CHARLES  P.  KIRKLAXD  addressed  the  court,  soon 
after  its  opening,  and  said  : 

"A  great  national  calamity  is  just  announced,  to  us — 
HENRY  CLAY  is  dead !  Indeed,  more  than  a  national  ca- 
lamity, for  his  loss  will  be  known  and  lamented  in  every 
part  of  the  globe,  where  freedom  has  a  votary,  or  the  lib- 
erty of  man  a  friend  or  an  advocate;  and,  unless  I  greatly 
err,  a  grief  as  sincere,  and  a  regret  as  lively  and  as  deep 
will  occupy  multitudes  of  foreign  hearts  as  now  pervade 

69 


thosefof  his  millions  of  countrymen.  Greece,  South  Amer- 
ica, Mexico,  have  lost  their  earliest  friend,  the  most  fear- 
less and  eloquent  champion  of  their  efforts  for  emancipa- 
tion; and  every  man  in  those  lands,  andjn  all  other  lands, 
in  whose  bosom  beats  a  single  aspiration  for  freedom,  will 
unite  with  us  in  earnest  sympathy  on  this  occasion.  We 
are  called  to  mourn  then,  not  merely  a  loss  to  ourselves, 
but  to  Christendom;  not  merely  to  our  institutions,  but  to 
the  cause;  not  merely  of  an  American  statesman,  but  of  a 
world-renowned  and  a  world-admired  apostle  of  liberty. 
No  man  survives,  not  even  those  who  have  been  highest  in 
official  stations  or  most  distinguished  in  war,  whose  name 
is  more  known  and  more  spoken  in  all  lands,  to  which 
civilization  has  extended,  than  his  who  has  just  been  sum- 
moned from  among  us  to  immortality. 

"  In  bidding  our  last  farewell  to  HENRY  CLAY,  we  take 
our  leave  of  one,  who  furnished  the  most  beautiful  and 
most  impressive  illustration  of  the  genial  workings  of  our 
wonderful  system  of  government  in  the  bringing  out  and 
developing  the  individual  man.  With  no  advantages  of 
birth,  education  or  fortune,  on  the  contrary,  with  all  the 
depressing  influences  of  obscurity,  poverty  and  lowly  ori- 
gin, we  see  him,  under  the  beneficent  operation  of  republi- 
can institutions,  rise  rapidly  to  the  zenith  of  human  fame, 
and  gather  around  him,  in  rich  abundance,  the  glory  and 
the  honors  of  the  lawyer,  the  orator  and  the  statesman. 
What  a  bright  example  is  thus  presented  to  the  young  men 
of  this  country,  and  how  are  all  taught  by  it,  that  no  ob- 
scurity of  birth,  no  pressure  of  poverty,  no  deficiency  of 
early  education,  are  here  any  necessary  or  legitimate  ob- 
struction in  the  pathway  that  leads  to  honor  and  renown. 

"  To  the  lot  of  this  great  man  it  fell,  on  at  least  three  oc- 


TtfcnlM?  Ciqy. 


> 

^m.'-- 


casions,  to  be  the  means,  under  Providence,  of  devising, 
and  by  his  commanding  influence,  carrying  out,  measures 
which  saved  our  hallowed  union  from  apparently  impending 
dissolution.  It  was  at  these  times  that  the  greatness  of  his 
intellect,  the  splendor  of  his  eloquence,  and,  more  than  all, 
the  fervor  and  sincerity  of  his  patriotism,  shone  out  with 
almost  superhuman  brightness,  and  accomplished  those  be- 
nign results,  which,  without  hyperbole,  we  may  believe 
will  extend  their  influence  through  ages  of  time,  and  will 
be  regarded  with  affectionate  gratitude  by  long  successions 
of  generations. 

"  But  it  is  not  as  the  patriot,  the  statesman,  the  philan- 
thropist, that  the  immortal  deceased  would  on  this  occa- 
sion and  in  this  place,  receive  the  solemn  tribute  of  our 
respect ;  it  is  more  emphatically  in  his  character  as  our 
professional  brother  that  we  would  now  pay  honor  to  his 
memory.  And  if  a  tribute  of  respect  and  veneration  can 
ever  properly  be  paid  to  a  departed  -member  of  the  Ameri- 
can bar  by  his  surviving  brethren,  there  surely  can  be  no 
more  appropriate  instance  than  the  present.  Pre-eminent 
as  Mr.  CLAY  was  in  the  particulars  to  which  I  have  briefly 
alluded,  he  was  no  less  so  as  a  lawyer.  His  great  attain- 
ments in  legal  learning,  and  his  remarkable  powers  of  anal- 
ysis, of  logical  arrangement  and  deduction,  and,  indeed,  in 
the  whole  field  of  legal  argumentation,  were  often  exhib- 
ited in  the  highest  judicial  tribunal  of  our  country,  and 
obtained  for  him  a  place  among  the  first  of  the  profession. 
He  combined  with  these  qualities  what  seldom  co-exists 
with  them — the  skill  and  tact  of  the  advocate,  and  the  per- 
suasive eloquence  so  unusual  and  so  effective  in  another  de- 
partment of  our  labors.  To  all  this,  he  added  as  a  crown- 
ing glory  that  delicate  moral  sense  and  elevated  integrity, 


Obsequies  of 


without  which  the  character  of  no  lawyer  can  be  perfect. 
But,  if  the  court  please,  this  is  not  the  occasion  for  an 
eulogy,  and  I  did  not  rise  to  pronounce  one.  I  am  aware 
that  the  few  remarks  I  have  made  are  quite  sufficient  as 
preliminary  to  the  motion  I  am  about  to  make.  And  now, 
as  a  fitting  though  slight  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory 
of  HENRY  CLAY,  I  move  that  this  court  do  adjourn,  and 
that  an  entry  in  the  minutes  accordingly  be  made.  This 
motion  and  the  feelings  which  dictate  it  will,  I  know,  have 
the  heart-felt  acquiescence  of  the  court  and  of  the  bar." 

The  District  Attorney,  Mr.  N.  B.  BLUNT,  said,  that  he 
rose  to  second  the  motion  just  addressed  to  the  court. 

"  Certainly  sir,"  he  added,  "  on  leaving  this  court  yes- 
terday, I  did  not  imagine  that  I  should  to-day  be  called 
upon  to  participate  in  the  official  announcement  of  the  mel- 
ancholy tidings  which  have  reached  us.  Long  anticipated 
as  was  the  event,  nevertheless,  to  me  it  came  with  crushing, 
stunning  force. 

"  Familiar  for  many  years  with  his  public  character,  en- 
joying his  friendship,  and  for  a  brief  time  connected  with 
him  in  immediate  personal  relation,  the  emotions  which 
crowd  upon  me  almost  forbid  language.  But  yesterday,  as 
it  were,  pre-eminent  among  his  compatriots,  he  stood  the 
observed  of  all  observers — to-day,  he  lies  a  cold  and  sense- 
less mass — an  empty  casket,  stripped  of  its  treasure.  The 
spirit  of  the  great  American  commoner  has  fled  from  its 
earthly  tabernacle — the  affections  which  centred  in  him 
are  severed,  and  we  mourn  the  loss  of  our  benefactor  and 
friend.  He  was  truly  an  impersonation  of  the  American 
republic.  From  earliest  infancy,  reared  under  its  insti- 
tutions, he  was  an  emblem  of  its  progress,  its  power,  and 


ifepH(6hi|i 


its  glory.  To  him,  as  adapted  to  the  country  which  gave 
him  birth,  may  well  be  applied  the  eulogy  pronounced  upon 
CANNING,  "He  was  an  American  through  and  through, 
American  in  his  feelings,  American  in  his  aims,  American 
in  all  his  policy  and  projects."  As  WASHINGTON  was  the 
father  of  his  country,  HENRY  CLAY  will  go  down  to  pos- 
terity as  its  savior.  It  is  fitting  and  proper  that  one  who 
has  so  long  been  identified  with  the  history  of  our  country, 
at  home  and  abroad,  whose  name  and  fame  are  imperisha- 
bly  connected  with  its  welfare  and  prosperity,  should  re- 
ceive the  respect  of  a  grateful  people. 

"  I  can  no  more  at  present  but  second  the  motion  of  my 
respected  friend." 

His  Honor  Judge  ROOSEVELT,  said, 

"  The  court  very  fully  concurs  in  the  sentiments  expressed 
by  the  bar,  which  are,  no  doubt,  the  universal  sentiments  of 
the  whole  community  respecting  the  illustrious  statesman 
who  has  just  departed  from  among  us.  He  not  only  was  a 
statesman  in  the  common  sense  of  the  term,  but  was  a  man  of 
high,  generous  impulse,  and  noble  attributes,  which,  in  his 
career,  were  more  marked  than  in  any  other  instance  in 
modern  history.  He  was  ambitious,  it  was  true,  but  it 
was  that  ambition  which,  more  than  its  own,  sought  the 
distinction  and  glory  of  his  country.  There  never  was 
a  man  who  more  enthusiastically  entered  into  the  glory  of 
the  American  nation  than  HENRY  CLAY.  Whatever  may 
have  been  his  infirmities,  they  were  the  necessary  inci- 
dents of  his  virtues.  There  was  in  him  an  ardor — a  fer- 
vency of  purpose— and  a  loftiness,  which,  to  the  eyes  of  all 
generous  men,  veiled  his  infirmities.  He  was  at  once  the 
true  statesman,  and  the  statesman  of  truth.  He  despised 


0bse<)i|ies  of 


falsehood  in  all  its  shapes  and  all  its  colors;  and  though  he 
has  parted  from  us,  and  though  his  mortal  remains  have 
been  brought  low,  and  are  about  to  be  consigned  to  the 
dust,  we  may  say  with  the  American  poet, 

'  Truth  crushed  to  earth  will  rise  again.' 

His  spirit  is  now,  we  have  reason  to  believe,  rising  on  the 
wings  of  immortality  to  that  realm  on  whose  dominion  the 
sun  that  has  risen  will  never  set."  The  Judge,  in  conclu- 
sion said,  "  that  in  honor  of  the  memory  of  HENRY  CLAY, 
I  direct  that  the  court  stand  adjourned  for  the  term." 

COMMON  PLEAS — FIRST  PART. 

Mr.  THEO.  E.  TOMLINSON,  Corporation  Attorney,  ad- 
dressing his  Honor,  said  : 

"  May  it  please  the  court,  it  is  usual,  when  an  eminent 
lawyer  dies,  for  the  profession  and  the  court  to  mark  their 
respect  on  the  public  records.  A  distinguished  lawyer, 
and  enlightened  civilian,  a  noble  patriot  has  fallen.  HENRY 
CLAY  is  dead !  It  is  true  we  have  expected  his  death,  but 
it  was  expected  as  the  sunset,  which  leaves  darkness  and 
gloom  behind.  It  is  particularly  the  duty  of  the  tribunals 
of  law,  and  the  members  of  our  learned  profession,  to  pay 
a  tribute  to  the  great  commoner,  whose  triumphs  have 
been  purely  civic — his  laurels  were  the  laurels  of  peace — 
his  triumphs  the  triumphs  of  the  constitution  and  the  law. 
If  partisanship  marked  any  portion  of  his  career,  it  has 
been  lost  in  the  unbounded  patriotism  that  marked  his  de- 
votion to  his  whole  country;  so  that  we,  the  sons  of  this 
great  republic,  realize  that  in  the  loss  of  I^ENRY  CLAY,  we 
we  have  lost  a  father." 

Mr.  TOMLINSON  then  proposed  the  following  resolution: 


fte^y  6igjj. 


"  Resolved,  That  this  court,  partaking  of  the  universal  sor- 
row which  affects  the  nation,  under  its  bereavement  by  the 
death  of  HENRY  CLAY,  and  feeling  that  no  eulogy  can  add 
to  the  glory  of  the  great  departed,  feel  that  silence  is  more 
expressive  than  panegyric,  and  do  therefore  adjourn." 

His  Honor  Judge  WOODRUFF  responded,  with  much 
feeling,  to  the  address  of  Mr.  TOMLINSON,  in  support  of  the 
motion — expressing  the  profound  sensibility  with  which 
the  court  received  the  announcement;  the  sympathy  of  the 
court  with  the  sentiment  of  deep  grief  which  pervades  the 
nation;  the  propriety  of  marking,  by  appropriale  testimo- 
nials, an  event  which  forms  an  important  era  in  the  na- 
tion's history, — a  history  in  which  the  career  of  the  dis- 
tinguished senator,  now  deceased,  was  pre-eminently  a 
part;  and  especially  the  propriety  of  pausing  in  our  ordi- 
nary pursuits,  to  allow  the  indulgence  of  the  feelings 
awakened  by  the  sad  event.  With  some  further  expres- 
sions of  high  admiration  and  respect  for  the  eminent  law- 
yer and  statesman  whose  death  was  announced,  the  Judge 
ordered  that  the  Court  do  now  adjourn,  and  that  the  reso- 
lution be  entered  upon  the  records  of  the  court. 

COMMON  PLEAS — SECOND  PART. 

Mr.  DANIEL  T.  WALDEN,  Jr.,  said  :— 

"  May  it  please  the  court,  for  many  days  past  the  pub- 
lic journals  have  given  us  the  melancholy  intelligence 
that  a  great  man  was  rapidly  sinking  to  his  final  rest — 
that  hCj  who  during  a  long  life,  had  fought  manfully  for 
the  rights  of  his  country  in  her  legislative  councils — who 
had  battled,  as  the  champion  for  the  oppressed  of  other 
climes,  was  fading  from  the  scenes  of  earth,  and  about  to 


Obsequies  of 


meet  his  last  great  enemy — yet  have  we  hoped,  and  with- 
out a  ray  of  promise,  our  minds  have  been  warped  by  our 
feelings,  and  we  would  believe  that  he  might  yet  be  spared 
to  that  country  he  has  so  faithfully  served.  The  electric 
messenger  of  yesterday  proclaimed  the  dread  and  mourn- 
ful tidings  that  disease  had  done  its  work — that  HENRY 
CLAY  was  no  more.  Yes,  in  the  federal  capital,  amid  the 
scenes  of  his  labors  and  his  triumphs,  while  still  in  the  liv- 
ery of  his  country's  service,  as  a  senator  from  the  state  of 
his  adoption,  he  has  closed  his  eyes  on  earth,  and, 

'  To  wear  a  wreath  in  glory  wrought,  his  spirit  sped  afar, 
Beyond  the  soaring  wings  of  thought,  the  light  of  moon  or  star ; 
To  drink  immortal  waters,  free  from  every  taint  of  earth, 
Tobreath  before  the  shrine  of  life,  the  source  whence  worlds  had  birth.' 

"  The  land  is  filled  with  lamentation — grief  is  in  every 
heart,  and  the  dark  drapery  of  sorrow  is  preparing,  as  a 
poor  expression  of  our  inward  woe.  It  is  but  fit  that  we 
should  pause  in  our  avocation — rest  from  our  labor,  to  re- 
spect the  memory  of  one,  who,  amid  his  public  life,  re- 
mained an  active,  industrious  and  illustrious  member  of 
our  own  profession.  I  move  you,  sir,  that  this  court  do 
now  adjourn." 

His  Honor,  Judge  INGRAHAM,  in  reply,  after  referring 
briefly  to  the  public  and  private  character  of  Mr.  CLAY, 
expressed  the  great  regard  which  he  had  ever  entertained 
for  him  as  a  man,  a  lawyer,  and  a  statesman,  and  added 
that  he  was  well  deserving  of  every  mark  of  public  re- 
spect that  could  be  shown  to  his  memory.  That  he  con- 
curred in  the  remarks  made  by  the  gentleman  who  moved 
the  adjournment,  and  would,  in  granting  the  motion,  direct 
that  a  suitable  order  should  be  entered  upon  the  minutes 
of  the  court. 


MARINE  COURT. 

JOHN  H.  WHITE,  Esq.,  addressed  the  court  in  substance 
as  follows  : 

"  May  it  please  the  court,  the  mournful  tidings  have 
just  reached  this  city  that  HENRY  CLAY  is  no  more.  That 
eloquent  voice,  which  has  so  often  entranced  the  Senate, 
or  held  spell-bound  the  listening  throng,  is  now  hushed  in 
the  silence  of  death. 

"  In  the  fullness  of  my  feelings,  it  would  be  presumptions 
in  me  on  this  occasion,  to  attempt  to  do  justice  to  his  mem- 
ory. I  can  only  sit  myself  down,  as  one  of  a  nation  of 
mourners,  and  weep. 

"  HENRY  CLAY  needs  no  eulogy  at  my  hands.  His  mem- 
ory is  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and  wherever 
liberty  has  had  a  germination,  whether  among  the  shrines 
of  classic  Greece,  in  the  valleys  of  the  Chimborazo,  or 
among  the  sea-girt  isles  of  the  Pacific,  the  name  of  CLAY 
will  be  fondly  reverenced  as  long  as  time  shall  last. 

"  In  his  career,  so  full  of  glorious  achievements  and  pa- 
triotic and  self-sacrificing  devotion  to  his  country,  the  young 
man  may  learn  a  most  instructive  lesson.  Born  in  obscu- 
rity and  poverty,  without  distinguished  parentage;  without 
friends,  except  such  as  he  made  for  himself;  by  his  own 
efforts  and  the  force  of  his  own  mind,  he  raised  himself 
from  the  humblest  position  in  life  to  the  highest  pinnacle 
of  renown  and  honor.  He  was,  in  every  sense  of  the  word, 
a  self-made  man,  and  although  his  early  life  was  beset  with 
difficulties  and  trials,  which  seemed  to  other  minds  insur- 
mountable, yet  he  rose  superior  to  them  all,  and  for  nearly 
half  a  century,  he  has  shown  to  the  world,  that  whether  in 
the  councils  of  the  nation,  or  filling  important  diplomatic 


of 


positions  at  home  or  abroad,  or  cultivating  the  social  en- 
dearments of  his  quiet  home  at  Ashland,  he  has  always  re- 
flected the  noblest  attributes  of  man,  and  sustained  in  every 
relation  of  life,  the  proud  position  of  '  the  noblest  work  of 
God.'  During  the  last  forty  years,  no  man  has  exerted  a 
greater  influence  upon  the  destinies  of  this  country  than 
Mr.  CLAY. 

"  Every  page  of  her  history,  during  that  period,  is  em- 
blazoned with  his  name,  and  though  in  times  of  party  ex- 
citement, the  slanderer  and  libeller  have  attempted  to 
tarnish  his  fair  fame,  he  has  been  spared  long  enough  to 
live  down  all  his  revilers;  and  now,  all  parties,  all  sects, 
and  all  creeds  will  gather  around  the  common  altar  of 
their  country,  and  bowing  themselves  to  the  dust,  mourn 
over  the  irreparable  loss  the  nation  has  sustained. 

"  It  is  fitting,  on  this  sad  occasion,  that  the  tribunals  of 
justice  should  pay  proper  tribute  to  his  memory  and  worth; 
it  is  fitting  that  we  here  should,  for  the  time  being,  forget 
the  excitements  of  the  day,  and  laying  aside  our  business, 
go  forth  with  the  multitude  and  weep. 

"  I  therefore  move,  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory 
of  the  illustrious  deceased,  that  this  court  do  now  ad- 
journ." 

H.  D.  LAPAUGH,  Esq.,  seconded  the  motion,  with  appro- 
priate remarks. 

His  Honor  Judge  LYNCH,  after  a  very  feeling  and  elo- 
quent address,  ordered  an  adjournment  of  the  court,  and 
that  the  proceedings  be  entered  upon  the  minutes. 


MEETING   OF    THE   BAR. 

A  meeting  of  the  members  of  the  New  York  Bar  was 
held  in  relation  to  the  death  of  the  Hon.  HENEY  CLAY,  in 
the  rooms  of  the  Supreme  Court.  On  motion,  Chief  Jus- 
tice OAKLEY  was  called  to  the  Chair,  assisted  by  Judges 
DUER  and  CAMPBELL.  HENEY  E.  DAVIES  and  JOHN  J. 
TOWNSEND  were  appointed  Secretaries.  The  following 
resolutions  were  then  read  and  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  HENEY  CLAY,  we  feel,  in 
common  with  our  fellow-citizens,  the  loss  of  the  eloquent 
orator,  the  eminent  jurist,  the  sagacious  statesman,  the  in- 
corruptible patriot,  the  ardent  advocate  of  American  in- 
terests, and  the  great  representative  of  human  freedom 
throughout  the  world. 

Resolved,  That  while  we  deplore  the  termination  of  his 
illustrious  career,  we  rejoice  that  he  has  been  so  long 
spared  to  fill  the  measure  of  his  country's  glory;  that  his 
eloquent  accents  in  behalf  of  freedom  struggling  against 
oppression  are  familiar  to  the  children  of  classic  Greece, 
as  well  as  to  those  of  our  sister  American  republics;  and 
that  in  both  hemispheres  it  is  a  sufficient  passport  to  his 
fellow-citizens  to  say,  I  am  a  countryman  of  HENEY  CLAY. 

Resolved,  That  a  marble  bust  of  the  departed  patriot  be 
placed  in  the  Law  Library,  as  a  durable  memorial  of  our 
esteem,  and  in  proof  of  the  entire  compatibility  of  the 
duties  of  a  statesman  and  patriot  with  those  of  the  law- 
yer; and  that  the  members  of  the  New  York  Bar  will 
wear  a  mourning  badge  for  three  months,  as  a  mark  of 
their  respect  for  his  memory  and  irreparable  loss. 

A  committee  of  three  was  appointed  to  carry  out  the 
last  resolution. 


of 


A  committee  of  five  was  appointed  to  co-operate  with 
the  city  authorities  and  civic  societies,  in  making  arrange- 
ments to  receive  the  body. 

THOMAS  J.  OAKLEY,  Chairman. 

JOHN  J.  TOWNSEND,  )  0 

HENRY  E.  DAVIES,    J  Secretaries. 


BALTIMORE  COUNCIL. 

CITY  HALL, 
BALTIMORE,  7th  JULY,  1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — At  a  joint  meeting  of  the  several  com- 
mittees, representing  the  corporation  and  the  citizens  of 
Baltimore,  appointed  in  connection  with  the  obsequies  of 
the  late  HENRY  CLAY,  convened  as  above,  his  Honor  the 
Mayor  was  called  to  the  chair,  and  GEORGE  S.  ALLEN  ap- 
pointed Secretary. 

On  motion  of  FRANCIS  A.  FISHER,  Esq.,  a  committee 
was  appointed  to -prepare  and  submit  suitable  resolutions 
for  the  consideration  of  the  meeting.  Among  the  resolu- 
tions reported  by  the  committee,  were  the  following,  which 

were  adopted  with  unanimity. 

/ 
Resolved,  That  the    cordial   thanks  of  this  meeting  be 

tendered  to  Messrs.  Aldermen  WM.  J.  BRISLEY,  J.  H.  VAL- 
ENTINE, WM.  H.  WRIGHT,  and  their  associate  members  of 
the  committee,  for  their  polite  invitation,  tendered  at  Phil- 
adelphia, to  accompany  them  to  the  city  of  New  York,  on 
the  late  mournful  occasion  of  the  transmission  of  the  re- 
mains of  HENRY  CLAY  to  their  final  resting  place. 


Resolved,  That  although  it  was  found  impossible  for  us 
to  accept  the  invitation,  in  a  body,  as  we  could  have  desired, 
we  take  pleasure  in  returning  our  thanks  for  the  kindness 
extended  toward  our  representative,  Mr.  SMITH,  feeling 
well  assured,  that  a  similar  reception  must  have  awaited 
all  of  us  had  circumstances  allowed  us  to  have  participated 
in  the  ceremonies  at  New  York. 

In  accordance  with  the  action  of  the  meeting,  as  above 
indicated,  we  take  pleasure  in  forwarding  to  you  the  in- 
closed resolutions.  Permit  us,  at  the  same  time,  to  say 
to  you  how  highly  we  appreciate  your  courtesies  on  the 
occasion  alluded  to,  and  to  assure  you  of  the  respect  with 
which  we  remain, 

Your  obedient  servants, 

JNO.  M.  JEROME,  Chairman. 
GEO.  S.  ALLEN,  Secretary. 

To  Aldermen  WM.  J.  BRISLEY,  WM.  H.  WRIGHT, 
J.  II.  VALENTINE,  and  others,  representing  the 
New  York  Common  Council. 


DEMOCEATIC  REPUBLICAN  GENERAL  COMMITTEE. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Democratic  Republican  General 
Committee,  specially  convened  at  Tammany  Hall,  on 
Thursday  evening,  July  1st,  ROBERT  J.  DILLON  offered  the 
following  resolution,  which  was  unanimously  adopted. 

Resolved,  That  the  Democratic  Republican  Committee  of 
the  city  of  New  York,  deeply  sympathize  in  the  loss  which 

6  81 


Obsaqqies  of 


the  republic  has  suffered  in  the  death  of  our  great  coun- 
tryman, HENRY  CLAY.  His  eminent  talents,  his  distin- 
guished services,  and  his  manly  courage  have  won,  even 
from  his  political  opponents,  the  warmest  admiration;  and 
this  Committee  feel  called  upon  particularly  to  express  this 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  CLAY,  because  he  was  the 
able  and  efficient  supporter  of  the  compromise  measures 
of  1850,  and  because  the  principles  upon  which  those  mea- 
sures are  based  are  the  principles  of  the  democratic  party, 
upon  which  depend  their  efficiency  and  duration. 


JONAS  B.  PHILLIPS, 
JOSEPH  HILTON, 


AUG.  SCHELL,  Chairman. 


Secretaries. 


YOUNG   MEN'S    DEMOCRATIC  GENEEAL    COMMITTEE. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Young  Men's  Democratic 
General  Committee,  held  at  Tammany  Hall,  July  2d, 
ULYSSES  D.  FRENCH  offered  the  following  resolutions* 
which  were  unanimously  adopted. 

R.esolved,  That  the  Young  Men's  Democratic  General 
Committee  of  the  city  of  New  York,  have  heard,  with 
deep  regret,  of  the  death  of  the  great  orator,  statesman, 
and  patriot,  HENRY  CLAY. 

Resolved,  That  his  course  in  the  American  Senate,  side 
by  side  with  the  great  and  good  men  of  our  own  party,  at 
a  time  when  fanaticism  and  disunion  threatened  the  exist- 
ence of  our  confederacy,  has  served  to  embalm  his  memory 


itertirji  tilflij. 


in  the  hearts  of  the  Avhole  American  people.  His  fame  is 
part  of  the  history  of  his  country;  it  belongs,  not  to  a 
party,  but  to  the  republic. 

Resolved,  That  this  Committee  will  unite  with  their  fel- 
low-citizens in  such  ceremonies  as  may  be  appropriate  to 
commemorate  his  death. 

A  communication  was  received  from  the  Young  Men's 
Whig  General  Committee,  inviting  this  Committee  to  co- 
operate with  them  in  rendering  honor  to  the  illustrious 
deceased;  which  invitation  was  duly  accepted,  and  ordered 
to  be  engrossed  on  the  minutes. 


JOHN  WHEELER,  Chairman. 


T.  B.  GLOVER,  ) 
JOHN  A.  SMITH,  5 


GENERAL  COMMITTEE  OF  DEMOCEATIC  WHIG  YOUNG  MEN. 

A  meeting  of  this  Committee  was  held  at  their  rooms, 
in  the  Broadway  House,  to  take  into  consideration  the 
recent  afflicting  dispensation  which  had  removed  the  great 
leader  of  the  Whig  party  from  their  midst,  and  to  adopt 
measures  in  regard  to  his  obsequies. 

ERASTUS  BROOKS,  Esq.,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
Democratic  Whig  Young  Men  for  the  City  and  County 
of  New  York,  in  announcing  the  death  of  HENRY  CLAY 
to  the  members,  spoke  as  follows: 

<:  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee — You  have  been  con- 
vened at  an  unusual  time,  and  for  reasons  so  obvious  in 


all  that  meets  your  eyes  and  ears,  that  it  is  not  necessary 
for  me  to  mention  the  occasion.  Our  chieftain  is  dead. 
At  the  capital  of  our  country,  in  the  city  of  "Washington, 
amidst  the  scenes  of  nearly  forty  years  of  labor,  in  the 
cabinet  and  in  the  two  houses  of  congress,  the  spirit  of 
one  whom  we  most  dearly  loved,  and  most  profoundly 
respected,  has  taken  its  flight  to  the  GOD  who  gave  it. 
He  died  full  of  years  and  full  of  honors.  The  sweet  music 
of  his  voice  is  hushed  in  the  silence  of  death.  His  erect 
and  commanding  form  lies  prostrate  in  the  narrow  con- 
fines of  the  tomb.  The  brilliancy  of  his  genius,  the  logic 
of  his  mind,  the  grace  of  his  manners,  the  physical  energy 
directed  by  a  courage  that  never  faltered,  and  by  a  will 
that  never  tired,  all  have  been  made  captive  by  death — 
the  King  of  Terrors.  But  HENRY  CLAY  lived  a  hero,  and 
he  died  a  Christian.  He  rests  from  his  labors,  and  his 
works  do  follow  him.  When  he  was  born,  the  constitu- 
tion of  our  country  was  not  adopted.  Our  independence 
had  not  even  been  achieved.  He  was  ushered  into  the 
world,  surrounded  by  the  roar  of  cannon,  the  strife  of 
revolution,  and  amidst  burning  struggles  for  liberty.  His 
life  was  worthy  of  such  a  beginning,  and  the  state  of  his 
birth  honored  by  such  a  son.  WASHINGTON  alone  was 
more  loved  as  a  patriot.  PATRICK  HENRY  was  more  elo- 
quent; THOMAS  JEFFERSON  was  more  fortunate,  and  MADI- 
SON and  MONROE,  Virginians  all,  attained,  in  the  quiet  but 
golden  age  of  the  republic,  higher  places  from  their 
country.  But  the  mother  of  states  and  of  statesmen  never 
gave  birth  to  one  of  her  children  whose  life  was  more 
honored,  or  whose  death  is  more  lamented.  He  saw  in 
his  day  our  country  grow,  as  the  spreading  forest  oak  has 
grown  from  the  acorn,  from  four  to  twenty-eight  millions 

84 


i 


if  c  or  y 


of  people.  The  Alleghanies  were  the  boundaries  of  the 
country  in  the  days  of  his  youth;  but  they,  too,  expanded, 
until  our  American  domain  has  stretched  across  the  Rocky 
Mountains  to  the  golden  shores  of  the  Pacific.  Even  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi  was  not  then  ours.  The  sugar 
and  cotton  lands  of  Louisiana,  and  the  vine  and  orange 
groves  of  Florida  were  the  possessions  of  France  and 
Spain;  but  now,  ships  from  our  own  bays  and  broad-armed 
ports  ride  upon  the  "Western  ocean,  while  those  on  board 
contemplate  and  hold  communion  with  the  Eastern  hem- 
isphere, and  all  their  oriental  treasures.  All  this  has 
been  in  the  life-time  of  HEXRY  CLAY — and  what  an  exam- 
ple has  he  left  us,  as  countrymen,  as  citizens,  and  as 
friends. 

"  We  desire,  in  such  an  hour  as  this,  not  to  rob  the  nation 
of  its  glory,  by  doing  homage  to  him  as  the  mere  man  of 
a  party.  But  here,  in  our  political  home,  where  we  have 
party  attachments,  warm  and  enduring  as  our  lives;  and 
attachments  which  were  created  by  our  devotion  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  HENRY  CLAY,  we  cannot  forego  the  privilege  of 
saying  that  he  was  our  own  political  father,  as  he  was  for 
many,  many  years,  the  prophet  and  patriarch  of  the  Whigs 
of  the  whole  union.  He  was  the  father  of  that  great 
American  system  which  protects  and  honors  American 
labor.  He  was  the  defender  of  every  American  inteio; ' — 
agricultural,  commercial  and  social.  He  was  known,  all 
over  the  land,  as  the  great  pacificator  of  the  country;  and 
in  three  memorable  struggles,  when  civil  war  threatened 
the  land,  under  a  good  Providence,  he  was  the  instrument 
of  creating  harmony  from  discord,  and  changing  the  pas- 
sion of  sectional  hate,  into  a  sentiment  of  fraternal  love 
and  national  respect. 


Obget)  tiles  of 

M!"... 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee — In  the  grave  of  HENRY 
CLAY  let  us  bury  all  our  personal  griefs,  and  become  once 
more,  in  the  unity  of  a  true  political  American  faith,  a 
band  of  brothers.  Like  our  honored  chief,  let  us  know 
'  no  north,  no  south,  no  cast,  no  west,  nothing  but  our 
country.'  By  defending  his  principles,  by  keeping  alive 
his  memory  in  our  hearts,  we  shall  learn  to  practice  that 
public  duty  and  that  heroic  virtue  which  teaches  mankind 
that  it  is  better,  in  all  our  earthly  aspirations,  to  be  right  than 
even  to  be  successful.  "We  shall  learn,  too,  from  his  life  and 
his  death,  that  the  greatest  political  honor  and  the  highest 
public  service  is  not  inconsistent  with  a  true  Christian 
faith,  but  that  one  may  prepare  himself  to  die  even  when 
surrounded  by  all  the  temptations  and  attractions  of 
worldly  power  and  applause. 

"  The  glories  of  our  blood  and  state 

Are  shadows, not  substantial  things; 
There  is  no  armor  against  Fate  ; 
Death  lays  his  icy  hand  on  kings  ! 
Sceptre  and  crown 
Must  tumble  down, 
And  in  the  dust  be  equal  made 
With  the  poor  crooked  scythe  and  spade. 


All  heads  must  come 

To  the  cold  tomb. 
Only  the  actions  of  the  just 
Smell  sweet,  and  blossom  in  the  dust." 

Mr.  N.  CARROLL  then  submitted  the  following  address 
and  resolutions: 

GOD  has  removed  from  earth  "  the  first  of  men,  and  the 
first  in  our  hearts."  Virginia,  from  whence  sprang  "  the 
Father  of  his  Country,"  gave  our  leader  birth.  Migrating 


in  1797,  from  the  mother  of  states,  he  planted  his  feet 
upon  the  soil  of  her  eldest  daughter.  While  time  lasts 
the  names  of  HENRY  CLAY  and  of  KENTUCKY  will  be  known 
and  renowned;  wherever  liberty  is  loved,  honor  reverenced, 
truth  revered,  and  virtue  has  its  abode. 

For  fifty  years  and  upward,  he  served  his  whole  coun- 
try, with  a  single  eye  toward  the  interests  of  each  and 
every  section.  Bearing  through  life  a  spotless  name,  he 
outlived  detraction  and  vituperation. 

He  devoted  all  his  unequaled  energies,  during  the  entire 
period  of  his  career,  to  advance  the  honor,  the  glory,  and 
the  prosperity  of  his  native  land.  Wherever  the  spirit  of 
freedom  struggled  against  tyranny  or  oppression,  his  soul 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  suffering;  and  that  matchless 
eloquence,  which  has  awed  senates,  and  with  resistless 
force  commanded  greater  results  than  that  of  any  other 
man  known  in  our  history,  was  ever  lifted  up  in  behalf 
of  the  persecuted  of  every  clime  and  nation.  He  never 
turned  aside  from  distress,  public  or  private.  He  labored 
to  lay,  wide  and  deep,  the  foundations  of  the  union,  the 
perpetuity  of  the  constitution,  and  the  majesty  as  well  as 
the  sanctity  of  the  laws.  He  toiled,  unwearied,  through 
long  years,  to  establish  the  great  and  beneficent  American 
system.  His  eagle  eye  never  slept  whenever  peril  threat- 
ened the  republic.  Thrice  he  warded  from  her  breast  the 
impending  danger.  Her  honor  imperiled,  his  voice  sum- 
moned the  country,  and  upheld  her  during  the  second  war 
of  independence.  He  grasped,  with  gigantic  mind,  and 
with  abilities  and  genius,  that  never  succumbed  to  disaster, 
the  duties  of  a  statesman,  the  bravery  of  a  hero,  and  the 
wisdom  of  a  sage. 

•7 


(S)bse()i|ie$  of 


"While  he  lived,  his  love^of  country,  conquering  self,  and 
every  personal  aspiration,  led  him,  again  and  again,  to  sac- 
rifice himself,  without  a  wail  or  a  murmur.  He  counted 
any  service  to  his  native  land,  at  whatever  cost  to  him- 
self, as  a  proud  and  triumphant  gain. 

Looking  through  our  history,  we  pause  beside  WASH- 
INGTON and  HENRY  CLAY — these  two. 

Resolved,  That  with  a  stricken  nation,  we  mourn  the 
death  of  earth's  greatest  son. 

Resolved,  That  we  no  longer  can  claim  him  as  the  property 
of  party — elevated  by  his  patriotism,  his  services,  and  his 
virtues  to  the  distinction  of  being  "  the  first  citizen  of  the 
republic,"  his  deathless  fame  passes  to  the  keeping  of 
immortality. 

Resolved,  That  in  this,  the  hour  of  our  sorrow,  from  the 
midst  of  the  gloom  which  such  a  death  inspires,  we  look 
beyond,  and  see  a  country  blessed  above  that  of  any  other 
in  the  universe — free,  prosperous  and  devoutly  thankful 
and  happy — and  we  remember,  though  many  have  done 
much  toward  this  end,  to  HENRY  CLAY  is  justly  allotted 
the  fullest  meed  of  having  most  served,  and  thrice  saved 
his  beloved  country. 

Resolved,  That  it  belongs  to  the  Democratic  Whig  Gen- 
eral Committee,  and  the  General  Committee  of  Democratic 
Whig  Young  Men,  to  proclaim  the  truth,  that  from  their 
organization,  so  long  as  he  was  before  the  people,  they 
never  knew  an  hour  untrue  to  HENRY  CLAY. 

Resolved,  Mingling  our  tears  with  his  family  and  kin- 
dred, we  tender  to  them  our  heart-felt  affection  and  sym- 
pathy— for  our  great  leader  and  friend  was  so  endeared 
to  each  of  us,  that  we,  too,  felt  that  we  were  of  his  house- 


irteimt  Ciqy. 


hold,  and  that  which  affected  or  concerned  him  or  his, 
grieved  us  alike. 

Resolved,  That  we  will  cherish  his  fame  and  memory — 
his  deeds  and  principles — transmitting  them  as  the  most 
precious  legacy  we  can  bequeath  to  our  posterity  and  suc- 
cessors. 

Resolved,  That  we  will  drape  our  rooms  in  mourning, 
and  that  the  members  of  the  Committees  will  wear  the 
usual  badges  of  mourning  for  thirty  days. 

Resolved,  That  a  joint  committee  of  members  be  ap- 
pointed to  make  arrangements  for  the  funeral  obsequies  of 
our  illustrious  champion. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  the  preamble,  and  of  these  res- 
olutions, be  furnished  to  his  family. 

Mr.  DANIEL  BOWLY,  in  seconding  the  resolutions,  re- 
marked— 

"  Mr.  CHAIRMAN: — It  has  again  become  our  sad  office,*  as 
the  representatives  of  the  Democratic  Whig  party  of  this 
city,  to  give  expression  to  our  profound  sorrow  at  the  loss, 
not  only  of  one  of  its  most  prominent  members,  but  of  its 
chiefest  column,  which  Death,  with  the  giant  hand  of  an- 
other Samson,  has  plucked  away.  HENRY  CLAY  is  dead  ! 

"  Not  long  ago,  Mr.  Chairman,  the  veil  of  the  temple  of 
the  great  Democratic  Whig  party,  mainly  reared  upon  the 
broad,  national  foundation  of  the  principles  successively 
and  successfully  advocated  by  HENRY  CLAY,  was,  by  local 
variance  and  individual  rivalry,  nearly  rent  in  twain,  and 
tottered,  even  unto  its  fall.  But,  by  a  good  Providence  in 
the  affairs  of  nations,  and  a  just  judgment  among  men,  the 
noble  structure  still  survives,  not  only  the  desolating  hand 

*  In  allusion  to  the  death  of  DAVID  GRAHAM. 
89 


Obsequies  of 


of  faction,  but  even  the  loss  of  him,  its  chiefest  column,  and 
towers  unscathed  above  the  base  contest  of  sectional  strife. 

"  HENRY  CLAY  is  dead  !  yet  may  we  not  trust  that  this, 
our  great  national  affliction,  at  this  time,  has,  by  a  wise 
decree  of  the  Ruler  of  national  as  of  individual  events, 
been  so  ordered  that  the  great  void  made  in  the  central 
arch  of  this,  our  temple,  by  the  death  of  him  whose  deeds 
are  above  panegyric  and  whose  life  is  above  eulogy,  may, 
if  it  cannot  be  filled,  at  least  be  supplied,  by  one  whose 
name  the  voice  of  his  fellow  Whig  countrymen  has  invoked 
to  its  conservation,  until  it  not  only  restore,  but  preserve, 
in  all  its  original  proportions,  that  massive  temple,  our  po- 
litical faith,  even  unto  the  realization  of  that  beautiful  idea 
of  another,  its  architectural  type  of  material  harmony. 

"  HENRY  CLAY  is  dead  !  And  if,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have 
not  been  one  of  those  who  have  staked  the  existence  of  a 
great  party  in  the  life  of  a  single  individual,  I  have  not  been 
the  less  sensible  that  the  history  of  a  great  man  is  the  history 
of  a  nation;  and,  sir,  it  needs  no  language  of  mine  to  vin- 
dicate its  pages,  in  anticipation,  from  the  charge  of  injus- 
tice to  the  life,  the  actions,  and  the  virtues  of  HENRY 
CLAY." 

The  resolutions  were  then  unanimously  adopted. 

A  delegation  from  the  General  Committee  was  then  an- 
nounced, who,  through  Mr.  JOHN  H.  WHITE,  extended  an 
invitation  to  the  Young  Men's  Committee  to  meet  them  in 
joint  session. 

The  invitation  was  accepted,  and  the  Committee  ad- 
journed to  the  rooms  of  the  General  Committee. 

In  joint  session  the  above  resolutions  were  again  read 
and  adopted. 

M 


li  e »  i'  {i  £ 1 1)  (). 


After  which,  a  joint  committee  of  arrangements,  upon 
Mr.  CLAY'S  obsequies,  was  appointed,  consisting  of  the 
folioAving  gentlemen  : 


Senior  Committee, 
DANIEL  ULLMANN, 
WARREN  CHAPMAN, 
THOMAS  CARNLEY, 
ROBT.  T.  HAWS, 
CHARLES  F.  SMITH, 
VIILIP  J.  MONROE, 
JOIIN  H.  WHITE, 
.  AS.  KELLY,  ex-officio. 


Young  Men's  Committee, 
NICHOLAS  CARROLL, 
NATHAN  C.  ELY, 
GEORGE  W.  THACHER, 
JOHN  RYAN. 
S.  B.  ROMAINE,  Jr., 
JAMES  H.  MOSEMAN, 
ERASTUS  BROOKS,  ex-officio. 


JAMES  KELLY, 
Chairman  Dem.  Whig  General  Committee. 

WM.  SHARDLOW,        >  0 
GEORGE  P.  NELSON,  \  S"*#<»**> 

ERASTUS  BROOKS, 

Chairman  Gen.  Com.  Dem.  Whig  Young  Men. 
BERN  L.  BUDD 


JAMES  H.  MOSEMAN, 


Secretaries. 


SCOTT   CENTEAL    COMMITTEE. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  SCOTT  CENTRAL  COMMITTEE  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  held  on  the  30th  of  June,  1852,  Mr.  A. 
J.  WILLIAMSON  proposed  the  following  resolutions,  which 
were  unanimously  adopted  : 

Whereas,  By  the  dispensation  of  Providence,  this  great 
nation  has  been  called  upon  to  pay  the  last  tribute  of  re- 

91 


Obsequies  of 


spect  to  the  memory  of  HENRY  CLAY;  as  American  citi- 
zens, and  as  members  of  the  Whig  party,  to  the  triumph  of 
whose  principles  this  great  and  good  man  devoted  the  best 
energies  of  his  long  and  useful  life,  we  feel  called  upon  to 
unite  our  tears  and  sympathies  with  those  who  mourn  his 
death;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  we  will  join  our  fellow-citizens  in  any 
public  demonstration  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  dis- 
tinguished statesman — the  man  of  his  time — the  pure  pa- 
triot— the  matchless  orator,  and  honest  philanthropist — 
the  great  commoner,  whose  whole  life  proves  the  sincerity 
of  his  noble  sentiment:  "  I  would  rather  be  right  than  be 
President;'7  and  who  has  so  repeatedly  proved  his  devotion 
to  his  country  by  his  sacrifices  and  services — whose  voice 
never  failed  to  still  the  storm  of  sectional  fanaticism,  and 
allay  the  spirit  of  discord,  which,  from  time  to  time,  has 
raised  its  hydra-head  in  different  portions  of  the  republic; 
and  whose  wise  and  far  seeing  policy  has  been  productive 
of  such  beneficial  results  to  the  whole  union. 

Resolved,  That  as  members  of  the  great  Whig  party,  we 
mourn  the  death  of  HENRY  CLAY  as  children  do  the  loss 
of  a  good  and  kind  father,  who  has  watched  over  and 
guided  the  wanderings  of  our  childhood  and  youth,  and 
whose  wise  councils  and  patriotic  teachings  have  placed 
us,  in  manhood,  in  our  present  proud  position. 

Resolved,  That  our  respect  and  veneration  for  the  man 
are  still  further  increased  as  we  look  back  upon  the  unkind 
and  ungenerous  treatment  which  he  has  so  often  received, 
without  a  murmur,  so  long  as  he  alone  was  the  sufferer 
but  who  was  always  prompt  to  call  back  to  duty  all  who 
were  forgetful  to  their  patriotism  or  nationality — who  was 


if  en  I*  i?  Gipjj. 


always  willing  to  sacrifice  himself  on  the  altar  of  his  coun- 
try's good . 

Resolved,  That  the  name  of  HENRY  CLAY  requires  no 
eulogium,  where  freedom  has  a  foothold  or  patriotism  com- 
mands respect.  His  genius  and  his  talents  are  familiar  as 
household  words,  wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken 
or  civilization  ,1ms  penetrated.  While  a  nation  mourns 
his  irreparable  loss,  generous  hearts,  over  the  whole  sur- 
face of  the  globe,  will  unite  in  paying  a  tearful  tribute  to 
his  memory. 

Resolved,  That  we  condole  with  the  bereaved  family  and 
friends  of  the  illustrious  deceased,  on  whom  this  blow  must 
fall,  with  even  greater  severity  than  on  the  nation  in 
whose  service  his  long  life  has  been  spent,  and  that  as  a 
token  of  our  sympathy  for  them,  and  respect  to  the  memory 
of  the  man,  we  will  wear  the  usual  badge  of  mourning  for 
ninety  days,  and  that  our  meeting  rooms  be  decorated  in 
a  becoming  manner  for  the  same  period. 

EGBERT  T.  HAWS,  Chairman. 

J.  F.  FREEBORN,  If  T7.     r<,   . 

G.  W.  BLUNT,      J  Vice-Chairmen. 


W.  L.  SHARDLOW, 
A.  J.  WILLIAMSON, 


Secretaries. 


FIEST   WARD    SCOTT   AND    GRAHAM    ASSOCIATION. 

At  a  regular  meeting  of  this  Association,  the  Hon.  J. 
PHILLIPS  PHCENIX  introduced  the  following  resolution, 
which  was  unanimously  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  this  Association  has  heard,  with  the  deep- 
est sorrow,  the  death  of  the  patriot  and  statesman,  HENRY 

93 


0bsec)t[ies  of 


CLAY.  For  half  a  century  he  has  been  our  distinguished 
champion  at  home  and  abroad;  knowing  "no  north,  no 
south,  no  east,  no  west,"  his  gigantic  mind  has  ever  been 
devoted  to  the  best  interests  of  his  country.  It  may  truly 
be  said,  "  Our  country  mourns  the  loss  of  her  noblest 
son." 

JOHN  H.  WHITE,  President. 

JOHN  GRIFFIN,       ) 
Jos.  A.  GAEDNER,  \ 


FIFTH   W     ED    SCOTT    AND    GRAHAM    CLUB. 

At  a  meeting  of  this  Association,  held  on  Wednesday 
evening,  June  30th,  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions 
were  unanimously  adopted  : 

Whereas,  It  has  pleased  an  all-wise  Providence  to  remove 
from  our  midst,  the  sage,  patriot  and  statesman,  HENEY 
CLAY,  whose  life,  for  the  last  fifty  years,  has  been  devoted 
to  the  interests  of  the  country,  and  whose  whole  history 
has  proved  his  declaration,  "  that  I  would  rather  be  right 
than  be  President;"  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  we  condole  with  our  fellow-citizens, 
throughout  our  extensive  country,  for  the  great  loss  sus- 
tained in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  in  the  death  of  the  SAGE 
OF  ASHLAND. 

Resolved,  That  although  we  deeply  deplore  the  death  •"••; 
HENEY  CLAY,  we  are  cheered  in  the  knowledge  thnt  i  .• 
ended  his  long  and  useful  life  in  the  bright  hopes  of  * ' 
future,  and  that  his  example  will  always  be  the  guide,  ai.u 
ought  to  be  the  aim,  of  every  American. 

JOHN  B.  FRINK,  President. 
JOHN  L.  GIEB,  Secretary. 

94 


FIFTH   WAED    COMMITTEE. 


At  a  regular  meeting  of  the  Whig  Committee  of  the 
Fifth  Ward,  held  July  1st,  on  motion,  the  following  reso- 
lutions were  unanimously  adopted  : 

Whereas,  This  Committee  has  received  intelligence  of 
the  death  of  HENRY  CLAY,  and  whereas,  the  members  of 
this  Committee  have  long  cherished  the  most  profound 
feelings  of  respect  and  love  for  that  great  patriot,  and 
deem  his  death  a  calamity  falling  heavily  upon  themselves, 
their  party,  and  their  country  ;  therefore,  be  it  unanimously 

Resolved,  That  the  members  of  this  Committee  deeply 
deplore  the  death  of  HENRY  CLAY,  and  while  trusting  the 
inscrutable  wisdom  of  Divine  Providence,  and  bowing  with 
submission  to  His  solemn  and  irrevocable  decree,  they  re- 
gard the  death  of  that  departed  patriot  as  one  of  the  greatest 
national  misfortunes  that  could  have  fallen  upon  the  Amer- 
ican people. 

Resolved,  That  although  death  may  have  ended  his  coun- 
sels, his  labors  and  his  virtues,  the  feelings  of  the  members 
of  this  Committee  remain  unaltered  and  unalterable;  and 
that  they,  in  common  with  their  countrymen,  will  ever 
reverence  HENRY  CLAY  as  the  embodiment  of  all  that  was 
noble  and  patriotic. 

Resolved,  That  the  members  of  this  Committee,  as  a 
tribute  of  respect,  wear  the  usual  badge  of  mourning  for 
thirty  days. 


THOMAS  E.  SMITH,  Chairman. 


WM.  H.  CANXIFF,  Secretary. 


(9  5  sanies  of 


TENTH   WARD    LUNDY'S   LANE    CLUB. 

At  a  regular  meeting  of  the  Tenth  Ward  Lundy's  Lane 
Club,  held  on  Thursday  evening,  July  1st,  the  following 
preamble  and  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted : 

Whereas,  This  Club  has  heard  with  profound  sorrow  the 
melancholy  tidings  that  America's  noblest  son  has  fallen — 
that  he,  who  was  almost  the  idol  of  the  Whig  party — who, 
from  early  manhood  to  the  grave,  devoted  his  talents  and 
his  energies  to  the  advancement  and  preservation  of  the 
great  interests  of  his  country — whose  love  of  liberty  Ird 
him  to  labor  for  its  establishment  in  the  southern  repu»> 
lics  as  well  as  on  the  classic  soil  of  Greece,  and  who  v, 
at  all  times  willing  to  sacrifice  himself  for  that  country  by 
standing  forth  as  its  pacificator  in  the  dark  and  pcrilo  s 
hours  of  its  history;  that  this  man,  the  statesman,  the  pa- 
triot and  the  orator,  has  fallen;  therefore 

Resolved,  That  in  common  with  all  friends  of  liberty,  we 
mourn  the  loss  of  its  noblest  advocate,  and  as  members  of 
the  Tenth  Ward  Lundy's  Lane  Club,  we  will  unite  in  any 
demonstration  which  may  take  place  to  commemorate  the 
death  of  our  late  beloved  leader. 

Resolved,  That  the  patriotic  services  of  the  late  senator 
of  Kentucky,  are  recorded  upon  almost  every  page  of  our 
country's  history;  and  when  that  history  ceases  to  be  read, 
or  ceases  to  be  known,  then,  and  then  only,  will  be  forgot- 
ten the  name  and  fame  of  HENEY  CLAY. 


ROBT.  MACOY,  President. 


M.  S.  DUNHAM,  Secretary. 


&•  Je,H6l«|.  - 

MimiM.,  ~ 

THIRTEENTH    WARD    CHIPPEWA   CLUB. 

A  regular  meeting  of  the  Thirteenth  Ward  Chippewa 
Club  was  held  on  Wednesday  evening,  June  30th,  when 
the  following  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  we  have  heard  with  profound  regret  the 
decease  of  the  pure  patriot,  the  wise  statesman,  and  the 
firm  friend  of  his  country,  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  and  while 
we  bow  in  submission  to  the  dispensation  of  an  overruling 
Providence,  which  has  called  him  from  the  scenes  of  his 
labor,  full  of  honors  and  of  years,  and  we  express  the  fear 
that  we  shall  never  look  upon  his  like  again,  we  cannot 
but  hope  that  his  bright  example,  as  a  devoted  friend  to  the 
constittuion  and  the  laws,  will  stimulate  his  countrymen 
to  follow  in  the  path  which  he  has  marked  out  for  them, 
in  order  to  promote  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  the 
land  which  he  loved  to  his  latest  breath. 

Resolved,  That  this  Club  and  the  Whigs  of  the  Thirteenth 
Ward,  be  requested,  (in  case  of  a  public  demonstration,)  to 
meet  in  front  of  this  hall,  on  the  day  set  apart  for  the  fu- 
neral of  HENRY  CLAY,  and  march  in  procession  under  the 
Clay  Club  banner  of  this  ward. 

AUG.  MORAND,  President. 
GEORGE  F.  COACHMON,  Secretary. 


SIXTEENTH   WARD    WHIG    COMMITTEE. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Sixteenth  Ward  Whig  Committee, 
held  on  Thursday  evening,  July  1st,  the  following  pream- 
ble and  resolutionsjvere  unanimously  adopted  : 

7  97 


Whereas,  Intelligence  of  a  great  national  calamity — the 
death  of  that  noblest  of  patriots,  the  greatest  of  statesmen, 
the  purest  of  men,  HENRY  CLAY — has  been  received  by  this 
Committee;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  while  we  deeply  deplore  the  loss  we 
are  called  upon  to  lament,  we  feel  that  his  example  has 
been  left  inscribed  upon  our  national  history,  for  us  to  fol- 
low in  the  exercise  of  candor,  truth,  sincerity,  forbearance 
and  conciliation,  one  toward  another,  for  the  sake  of  peace, 
concord  and  harmony,  and  the  success  of  Whig  principles. 

Resolved,  That  we  will  unite  in  any  demonstration  which 
may  be  called  forth  by  reason  of  the  nation's  bereavement, 
as  may  be  designated  by  the  Common  Council  of  our  city. 

WILLIAM  CRUSSELL.  Chairman. 
H.  H.  WHEELER,  Secretary  pro  tern. 


NARRATIVE    OF    EVENTS 


ALBANY  TO  KENTUCKY, 

INCLUDING    THE 

jftitural  InbtttnitbH  nt  f  mttgtnti 


BY  A  DELEGATE  FROM  THE  CLAY  FESTIVAL  ASSOCIATION. 


THE  funeral  cortege,  consisting  of  the  Senate  Commit- 
tee, the  delegation  of  the  Clay  Festival  Association,  and 
the  family  and  Kentucky  friends  of  the  deceased,  as  mourn- 
ers, escorted  by  the  corporate  authorities  of  Albany,  the 
officers  of  the  railroads,  a  deputation  of  citizens,  and  the 
Burgess  Corps,  left  Albany  on  Tuesday  morning,  6th  July, 
at  9  o'clock,  in  a  special  train,  by  the  western  railroad. 

The  funeral  car  was  elegantly  and  tastefully  decorated, 
bearing  befitting  and  touching  inscriptions — the  whole 
train  was  heavily  hung  in  deep  mourning. 

From  the  place  of  leaving  the  eye  met  everywhere 
mute  evidences  of  the  general  feeling.  Country  seats  and 
farm-houses  hung  out  their  sable  banners.  All  along  the 
road  were  seen  the  sad,  upturned  faces  of  all  ages,  sexes, 
and  conditions.  School-houses,  with  their  pupils  assembled 
in  front,  reverentially  and  silently  gazing  upon  "  the  last 
of  earth"  of  the  leading  spirit  of  the  immortal  line  of 
post-revolutionary  patriots. 

99 


(9bsec)i|ies  of 


SCHENECTADY. — An  imposing  spectacle  was  presented 
to  the  eye.  As  the  train  advanced  toward  this  old  repub- 
lican city,  their  way  was  through  a  dense,  orderly  crowd, 
increasing  until  we  reached  the  depot, — and  here  the 
whole  population  seemed  to  have  congregated.  Bells 
were  tolling;  minute-guns  were  fired  from  several  stations; 
the  road  hung  across  with  black  cloth:  all  the  buildings,  in 
sight,  wearing  the  same  sombre  hue;  the  national  colors  at 
half  mast,  and  bands  playing  funeral  marches.  We  wore 
joined  by  the  Mayor  and  a  deputation  of  citizens.  The 
professors  and  students  of  "  old  Union"  were  observed 
among  the  throng — many  of  them,  as  well  as  the  old  and 
young  of  the  inhabitants,  seemed  deeply  affected. 

AMSTERDAM. — The  station  was  heavily  draped,  as  well 
as  the  American  flags,  numerously  displayed.  The  sound 
of  bells,  guns  firing,  and  the  gathered  people,  in  sorrowing 
silence,  gazing  at  the  sarcophagus,  as  if  they  would  pene- 
trate the  casings  and  cerements  to  behold  the  features. of 
the  beloved  dead. 

FONDA. — The  draperies  here  were  very  heavy,  and  but 
faintly  expressed  the  manifest  grief  of  the  large  crowd, — 
among  whom  were  observed  many  aged  men  and  women. 
A  requiem  from  the  band — the  bells  tolling,  and  the  boom- 
ing of  the  cannon,  echoing  and  re-echoing  through  the  hills 
and  valleys  of  that  beautiful  region. 

CANAJOHARIE. — The  uninterrupted  scenes  of  the  morn- 
ing repeated.  The  shadowy  folds  of  colors,  clothed  in 
crape,  and  the  dark  hangings  of  the  adjacent  buildings — 
all  classes  clustered  in  silent  awe,  and  passing  regularly, 
in  deep  files,  the  funeral  car. 

100 


fejMTCUf. 


LITTLE  FALLS. — The  largest  number  of  persons  that  had 
ever  been  collected  at  this  place,  awaited  the  arrival  of 
the  train.  The  ladies  and  children — most  sincere  mourners 
— had  deputized  an  eloquent  speaker,  in  their  behalf,  to 
present  bouquets  of  white  flowers — immortelles  and  ever- 
greens, draped  with  black,  while  a  wreath,  circling  pure 
white  flowers,  was  their  offering  to  the  mighty  dead. 

FORT  PLAIN,  ST.  JOHNSVILLE,  FULTONVILLE,  MOHAWK 
and  HERKIMER.  at  the  PALATINE  BRIDGE,  all  through  the 
valley  of  the  Mohawk,  were  presented  the  noblest  tributes 
to  the  virtues,  to  the  greatness,  and  to  their  enduring  mem- 
ory of  the  illustrious  statesman.  A  large  portion  of  the 
almost  countless  masses,  gathered  at  all  the  stopping  places 
through  this  section,  had  journeyed  from  ten  to  one  hun- 
dred miles,  by  all  modes  of  conveyance,  to  testify,  by  their 
presence,  that  although  HENRY  CLAY  lived  no  more  on 
earth,  his  example,  his  principles,  and  his  public  services, 
were  immortal. 

UTICA. — Several  thousands  were  assembled.  A  deputa- 
tion of  their  leading  citizens  waited  on  the  Senate  Com- 
mittee. From  this  city,  as  well  as  from  ALL  the  principal 
places  on  the  route,  the  authorities  and  special  delegations 
joined  in  the  honored  tribute.  The  very  atmosphere  had 
become  oppressive.  It  was  laden  with  the  universal  woe  of 
a  stricken  land.  The  eye  everywhere  rested  upon  the  em- 
blems of  national  sorrow,  or  upon  the  reverential  throng 
that  had  made  one  immense  procession  from  the  bed  of  a 
Christian  hero's  death.  The  ear  heard  only  lamentations; 
the  gloomy  tones  of  funeral  bells;  the  dirges  of  many 
bands;  and  stationed  cannon,  that  each  minute  caught  the 
other's  echo.  It  was,  in  truth,  a  burdened  air,  but  there 


Obsequies  of 


was  this  sweetness  in  it,  that  if  envy  or  jealousy  had  hin- 
dered his  just  living  reward,  at  the  hands  of  his  country- 
men— he  had  survived  these,  and  was  now  bearing,  to  his 
long  home,  universal  appreciation  and  affection.  The 
whole  land  bowed  their  heads  before  the  general  loss; 
which  would  have  been  awhile  averted  if  prayer  could  have 
stayed  the  hand  of  time — a  calamity  as  vast  as  the  boun- 
daries of  the  UNION  he  had  mainly  helped  to  cement  to- 
gether, as  the  fearless  and  all-powerful  republic.  This — 
and  his  whole  life  meted  out  in  the  service  to  his  country 
— bore  testimony,  from  his  grave  to  heaven,  of  a  nation's 
lasting  gratitude  for  all  that  he  had  done  and  suffered  in 
their  behalf. 

ROME. — Another  delegation  was  received.  Among  the 
crowd  was  a  remnant  of  the  most  powerful  tribe  of  North 
American  Indians;  their  bearing  indicated  the  deepest 
reverence.  Did  they  remember,  in  him,  the  champion  who 
thrice  sacrificed  the  electoral  vote  of  a  great  southern 
state,  to  his  sense  of  duty,  in  rescuing  the  mighty  tribe  of 
Cherokees  in  that  state,  from  the  wrong:  which  would  other- 
wise have  been  perpetrated  ? 

SYRACUSE. — The  train  waited  here  an  hour.  At  the 
hotel  the  Senate  Committee  and  the  various  deputations 
attendant  on  them,  were  presented  to  the  authorities 
and  to  numbers  of  the  citizens.  The  Albany  Burgess 
Corps  were  here  relieved.  They  are  a  gallant  and  re- 
nowned company,  who  had  so  far  performed  most  ardu- 
ous duty;  files  of  them  passing  to  either  side  of  the  funeral 
car  at  each  stopping  place,  and  by  every  means  in  their 
power  preserving  the  decorum  and  solemnity  of  the  occa- 
sion. 

102 


tfenriiGhyj. 


ROCHESTER. — The  pressure  was  very  great.  Not  less 
than  ten  thousand  were  in  and  around  the  depot — besides 
the  multitude  in  the  thronged  street  through  which  the 
train  had  to  pass.  Another  military  detachment,  the  cor- 
porate and  other  delegated  authorities  from  this  place,  as 
well  as  from  all  places  beyond,  including  Buffalo,  here 
joined  the  train. 

AUBURN. — The  same  array  of  upturned  faces — the  deep 
silence — the  unuttered  grief.  There  was  a  stern  solemnity 
— a  deep  pondering  of  the  thoughtful,  reverential  multi- 
tude; the  tolling  of  bells — the  minute-guns — the  lowered 
flag  of  the  union — the  heavy  draperies  of  black. 

GENEVA. — Another  crowd— a  rustic  band — cannon — the 
houses  dressed  in  mourning — the  honest  weeping  of  their 
inmates,  who  had  loved  him  well,— American  flags  bear- 
ing the  names  of  "  CLAY  and  FRELINGHUYSEN,"  that  had 
not  looked  upon  the  light  of  day  since  they  had  seen  ser- 
vice in  that  memorable  conflict  of  opinion  in  1844.  As 
the  train  left  the  place  a  woman  was  seen,  overpowered 
with  grief,  kneeling,  and  with  upstretched  hands  imploring 
Heaven's  blessing  upon  the  final  repose  of  her  nation's 
savior.  « 

CANANDAIGUA. — Again  an  ardent  and  devoted  throng  of 
friends,  of  all  classes  and  of  all  parties.  A  deputation, 
headed  by  FRANCIS  GRANGER,  waited  on  the  Senate  Com- 
mittee, and  in  low  tones  expressed  their  sense  of  the  coun- 
try's bereavement. 

BUFFALO. — So  numerous  had  been  the  receptions,  so 
manifest  the  eager,  yet  respectful  anxiety  of  each  place 
along  the  route — not  to  be  resisted — that  the  cars  would 

103 


tarry  awhile,  it  was  impossible  to  make  a  rapid  journey. 
The  train  was  upward  of  thirteen  hours  in  passing  from 
Albany  to  the  City  of  the  Lakes.  As  they  approached 
Buffalo  a  thousand  flashing  lights  were  seen.  Her  author- 
ities and  people,  remembering  his  inestimable  national 
services,  and  his  unwearied  efforts  to  improve  and  make 
secure  the  navigation  of  all  the  great  water  highways  of 
the  country,  upon  the  success  of  which  their  general  and 
individual  prosperity  mainly  depended,  had  made  exten- 
sive preparations  for  a  general  demonstration.  Their  en- 
tire Fire  Department,  with  their  torches,  apparatus  and 
b.anners — all  their  citizen  soldiery,  civic  societies,  the 
orders  of  Freemasons,  Odd  Fellows,  and  United  Amer- 
icans, joined  in  the  ceremonies.  The  long  procession 
moved  through  the  principal  streets  ;  many  of  the  houses 
and  all  the  public  buildings  appropriately  decorated,  and 
it  was  approaching  midnight  when  the  remains  reached 
the  shore,  and  were  placed  on  a  cenotaph  on  board  the 
steamer.  Amidst  the  firing  of  guns,  the  tolling  of  the 
bells  of  the  churches  and  public  buildings,  of  all  the 
steamers  and  shipping  in  the  harbor,  and  away  from  the 
thousands  who  attended  the  remains  of  HENRY  CLAY  to 
her  shores,  the  "  Buckeye  State"  bore  her  holy  charge  over 
the  waters  of  Lake  Erie. 

LAKE  ERIE. — The  night  was  clear — the  air  and  the  wa- 
ters were  hushed,  as  those  wrhose  duty  it  had  been  to  sus- 
tain the  painful  scenes  of  that  trying  day  of  travel  through 
the  heart  of  the  Empire  State,  sought  repose  to  be  the  bet- 
ter able  to  endure  the  fatigues  yet  awaiting  them. 

But  before  these  retire!  to  rest,  they  gathered  in  silence 
around  the  cenotaph,  upon  which  their  great  countryman 
was  laid.  He  slept  well  on  the  bosoni  of  the  vast  lake, 


I?  itat)f|j  tfi*iy, 


that  had  borne  him  oftentimes  in  glory  and  triumph  to  glad 
and  expectant  throngs  of  ardent  partisans.  It  was  now 
carrying  him  for  the  last  time  toward  his  far  off  home, — a 
nation's  wail,  echoing  from  shore  to  shore;  the  grief  of  the 
universal  heart.  Upon  a  bed  of  countless  flowers,  with 
wreaths  of  laurel — of  cypress — the  ivy  and  the  oak  leaf — 
lit  up  by  an  hundred  lights — he  rested — great  in  life — 
greatest  in  death. 

OHIO, 

CLEVELAND. — The  wharf  was  reached  at  nine  o'clock, 
Wednesday  morning.  Then  came  his  old  friends  and 
neighbors,  the  Lexington  Committee,  and  their  silent,  tear- 
ful greeting.  Nearly  all  of  them  were  men  advanced  in 
years.  Who  can  describe  the  deep  grief,  the  agony  with 
which  they  realized,  to  quote  their  own  language,  that  "  the 
soul  of  their  city,  the  sun  and  centre  of  their  social  life, 
had  set  forever." 

These  gave  place  to  the  Governor  of  Ohio,  the  Cleve- 
land Committee,  with  deputations  from  Columbus,  Dayton, 
Zenia,  Cincinnati,  other  parts  of  the  state,  and  from  Louis- 
ville. They  were  received  in  the  main  saloon  of  the 
steamer.  The  tall  and  imposing  form  of  Gov.  WOOD, 
bending  with  the  weight  of  emotion,  approached  the  Senate 
Committee,  and  paused,  and  with  broken  voice,  he  ad- 
dressed Judge  UXDERWOOD.  The  solemn  sight  of  many 
men  gathered  there,  who  had  long  known  the  American 
statesman — his  dear  friends  and  intimates — his  colleagues 
in  the  Senate,  and  those  who  had  devoted  years  of  their 
lives  to  his  service — so  still  they  were  that  their  sobbing 
was  distinctly  heard.  "Sir,"  said  the  governor,  "in  be- 
half of  Ohio  I  greet  this  sad  company.  The  noble  state  I 

105 


Obseqqies  of'1 

represent  was  strongly  attached  to  the  illustrious  man, 
whose  remains  are  now  about  to  pass  through  the  midst  of 
her  people,  and  which  she  desires  to  receive  and  pass 
through  her  territories,  with  heart-felt  homage  and  rever- 
ence. Not  even  Kentucky,  whose  proud  distinction  it 
will  be  to  possess  his  ashes,  entertains  for  the  memory  of 
this  patriot  and  great  American  statesman,  deeper  venera- 
tion— not  more  ardent  affection  when  living — than  Ohio, 
who  now,  so  full  of  sorrow,  receives  his  noble  corse." 

Judge  UXDERWOOD,  in  vain,  essayed  to  reply.  The  elo- 
quence of  manly  tears,  the  silent  pressure  of  the  hand  of 
Gov.  WOOD,  who  had  affected  in  like  manner  all  his  hear- 
ers, was  the  most  fitting  response.  Marshaled  by  this 
honorable  escort,  the  body  was  placed  in  a  car,  appropri- 
ately decorated,  provided  by  the  railroad  companies,  and 
the  numerous  cortege  of  the  family,  mourners,  committees 
and  authorities,  joined  the  train.  Its  passage  was  through 
a  dense  throng  of  uncovered  heads.  Before  noon  they  had 
stopped  at  various  places,  and  at  every  one  they  met  as- 
semblages of  Ohians,  that  had  journeyed  many  miles  to 
take  a  last  look  of  one  who  had  always  received  their  sup- 
port. Thrice  had  the  vote  of  this  most  important  of  the 
western  states,  been  given  to  him. 

COLUMBUS. — The  shadows  were  indicating  the  approach 
of  evening  as  the  train  neared  the  capital.  The  state  and 
city  authorities,  the  military,  fire  department,  orders  and 
societies,  had  been  marshaled  to  receive  the  dead  CLAY,  and 
these,  in  numerous  procession,  carried  him  through  the 
principal  streets  to  the  resting  place  provided  for  him. 
At  an  early  hour,  on  Thursday  morning,  the  sad  retinue 
left  Columbus.  The  houses  throughout  the  whole  city, 


106 


were  very  generally  dressed  in  mourning.  From  Colum- 
bus to  Cincinnati,  the  assemblages  were  frequent,  besides 
the  crowds  at  the  various  stations.  A  deputation,  styled 
the  Dayton  Committee,  joined  the  company.  The  ap- 
proach to  Cincinnati  was  through  a  highly  cultivated  re- 
gion, and  everywhere  along  the  route,  was  exhibited  tokens 
of  the  general  feeling. 

CINCINNATI. — The  committee  of  this  city  and  the  mar- 
shals were  presented  to  the  Senate  and  other  committees 
at  the  depot.  Here  they  received  the  body,  and  through 
miles  of  this  beautiful  city,  the  procession  moved,  passing 
on  every  side  the  elegant  decorations,  upon  which  had  been 
lavished  the  taste  of  a  munificent  people.  The  procession 
was  very  beautiful,  admirably  arranged,  and  the  crowds  of 
thousands  upon  thousands  filling  the  streets,  and  from  every 
window,  seemed  to  utter  "  God  bless  you,"  as  the  funeral  car 
passed  them.  Innumerable  busts  and  pictures,  draped 
with  wreaths  or  covered  with  crape — transparencies,  in- 
scriptions, and  mottoes,  in  every  street,  spoke  to  the  gazers 
the  tribute  of  the  heart  from  the  Queen  City  of  the  West  to 
her  beloved  champion.  Hundreds  of  guns  were  fired  from 
many  points,  answered  from  the  United  States  military 
depot  at  Newport — all  the  bells  of  the  city  were  tolling, 
and  thus  heralded,  the  extended  line  at  length  reached  the 
steamer  Ben.  Franklin.  Upon  a  cenotaph  in  her  bow,  ele- 
vated aloft,  open  on  all  sides  to  the  public  view,  they  de- 
posited the  body  of  HENRY  CLAY.  The  steamer  was  near- 
ly covered  with  mourning.  As  far  as  the  eye  could  reach, 
there  was  a  sea  of  heads  upon  the  levee.  Amid  these 
solemn  funeral  voices  of  chimes,  and  the  echoing  cannon, 
the  steamer  left  the  shores, — tarried  for  an  instant  at  Cov- 


107 


ington,  which  had  also  poured  out  her  people,  and  whose 
houses  were  very  generally  dressed  in  mourning.  When 
he  had  last  visited  Cincinnati,  as  many  people  smote  the 
air  with  a  louder  noise  than  artillery,  in  their  countless 
cheers — and  now  there  came  in  the  pauses  of  the  booming 
sound — the  deeper,  lower  tone  of  lamentation. 

The  party  that  left  Cincinnati,  consisted  of  the  Senate 
Committee,  Sergeant-at-Arms,  deputation  of  the  Clay  Fes- 
tival Association  of  the  city  of  New  York,  joined  to  the 
Senate  Committee,  the  Dayton  Committee,  the  Young  Clay 
Guard  of  Cincinnati,  numbering  some  one  hundred  re- 
markably fine  looking  men,  all  similarly  dressed  in  funeral 
uniform;  the  Cleveland  and  Columbus  Committees:  author- 
ities of  the  states  and-  cities  through  which  the  body  had 
passed;  the  Louisville  and  Frankfort  deputations,  and  the 
Special  Committee  of  Arrangements  from  Lexington. 

THE  OHIO  RIVER, 

NORTH  BEND. — The  neglected  and  already  dilapidated 
tomb  of  the  lamented  HARRISON  was  eagerly  regarded. 
For  him  the  mighty  Kentuckian  had  been  ruthlessly  thrust 
aside,  yet  how  gallantly  and  with  what  utter  self-abnega- 
tion did  the  latter  forget  his  own  wrongs  in  a  patriot's 
duties.  It  was  impossible  not  to  draw  parallels — not  to 
remember  the  dissimilar  careers  of  these  two,  and  yet,  in 
each  case,  from  the  bed  of  a  painful  death,  went  up  fervent 
prayers  for  the  welfare  of  their  country,  and  the  mainte- 
nance and  preservation  of  the  Union  and  the  Constitution. 

LAWRENCEBURG. — The  firing  of  cannon,  colors  at  half 
mast,  and  the  uncovered  throng  upon  the  bank  of  the  river, 
these  were  the  reverential  tributes  of  her  inhabitants. 

108 


!fj!)i"tj    61<JJJ. 


YEVAY. — The  same  tokens — the  same  gathered  crowds; 
and  now  the  heavens  were  putting  on  like  demonstrations 
in  deep  clouds,  with  her  lightnings  and  her  thunders — 
the  sky  replying  to  the  earth.  The  rain  soon  poured  down 
in  torrents,  and  yet  each  place  we  neared  had  turned  out 
their  people,  who  silently  stood,  in  many  instances  un- 
covered, upon  either  shore,  as  the  steamer  passed  on  her 
way. 

RISING  SUN. — Guns  were  heard  for  some  time  before  the 
boat  came  in  sight,  and  the  tolling  of  bells.  As  the  Ben. 
Franklin  made  the  turn  that  brought  her  in  full  view,  the 
whole  river  front  of  the  place  was  observed  to  be  dressed 
in  deep  mourning — the  national  flags  trailing.  Near  the 
shore  were  observed,  standing  in  a  semi-circle,  thirty-one 
ladies,  dressed  in  white,  with  black  veils  upon  their  heads, 
and  one  dressed  in  deep  mourning,  each  with  bouquets 
of  flowers' — "  the  Sisterhood  of  the  States" — mourning  their 
loss,  and  Kentucky  clothed  in  sable,  as  the  nearest  suf- 
ferer in  the  common  calamity.  The  gentlemen  were  drawn 
up,  uncovered,  in  that  pitiless  storm,  in  deep  files  behind  this 
touching  group.  Looking  around,  the  scene  had  become 
infectious;  the  whole  escort  on  board  were  moved  to  tears. 

C  ABROLTON,  MADISON,  WEST  PORT. — Each  of  tllCSC  places 

paid  their  tribute.  As  the  sun  was  setting,  the  clouds 
broke  over  the  bow  of  the  boat  shedding  over  the  cenotaph 
a  sea  of  light,  and  resting  there  as  a  ray  of  glorious  pro- 
mise; while  in  the  rear,  spanning  the  Ohio,  was  seen  a 
rainbow  of  surpassing  beauty.  It  was  painfully  still,  as 
all  on  board,  gathering  either  on  the  hurricane  deck,  in 
front,  or  upon  the  guards  at  the  stern,  gazed  with  deep 
emotion  upon  these  eloquent  and  sublime  omens  of  nature. 


Obsequies  of 


The  night  had  advanced,  but  still  the  minute-guns  took 
up  their  sentinel  duty,  and  their  sound  reverberated  from 
hill-side  to  hill-side,  awakening  in  each  heart  the  knowl- 
edge that  the  Friend  of  the  "West  was  passing  by  their 
homes  to  his  tomb. 


INDIANA, 

The  boat  made  the  wharf  at  New  Albany,  just  before 
daylight,  on  Friday  morning.  The  American  flags  flapped 
heavily  against  their  staff's,  and  dimly  seen  through  the  fog 
was  Louisville;  and  the  early  notes  of  preparation  for  the 
approaching  solemnities  were  heard  from  the  same  quarter. 

At  six  o'clock,  the  steamer  Ben.  Franklin,  having  left 
the  Indiana  side,  delivered  to  the  Louisville  authorities 
the  precious  remains,  that  now,  for  the  first  time,  touched 
Kentucky  ground. 

KENTUCKY, 

LOUISVILLE. — The  body  was  removed  to  the  designated 
place,  from  whence  it  was  afterward  more  formally  re- 
ceived Again  the  clouds  formed,  and  just  at  nine  o'clock, 
a  flash  of  lightning,  vivid  and  glaring — was  followed  by 
one  crash  of  thunder  as  if  all  the  artillery  of  the  skies 
had  congregated  there.  The  signal  gun  for  the  starting 
of  the  procession  followed  this.  The  dense  mass  of  vapor 
gradually  broke  away,  and  the  clear  sunlight  lit  up  the 
funeral  streets,  which,  for  miles  through  which  it  passed, 
was  one  continuous  drapery  of  black.  Many  of  the  streets 
were  dressed  from  side  to  side,  and  from  corner  to  corner. 
The  ladies  of  Louisville  were  very  generally  robed  in 

black,  and  every  male  citizen  wore  crape  upon  the  arm. 

no 


There  was  but  one  expression  upon  every  face — the  woe 
of  a  people  lamenting  the  death  of  their  father. 

The  cortege  filed  on  through  the  lines  of  the  procession 
to  the  cars,  which  were  prepared  by  the  railroad  com- 
pany, and  appropriately  decked  in  mourning.  It  was  with 
extreme  difficulty,  and  then  only  by  the  exertion  of  force, 
that  the  anxious  crowd  were  induced  to  fall  back  from  the 
funeral  car,  while  many,  with  uncovered  heads  and  weep- 
ing eyes,  were  mutely  testifying  their  abiding  regard. 

Through  these  closed  thousands  the  cars  slowly  took 
their  way.  It  was  the  last  day  of  that  sad  but  yet  glorious 
journey.  He  was  being  borne  now  through  his  own  people. 
The  state  that  he  had  brought  up  from  her  obscurity  to 
the  first  rank  of  states,  whose  name,  in  connection  with 
his,  was  now  immortal,  was  summoning,  from  far  and  near, 
her  prosperous  inhabitants  to  join  with  the  multitude  then 
journeying,  from  all  parts  of  her  territory,  toward  his  final 
resting  place.  And  they  were  coming,  old,  young,  and 
middle-aged — the  women  of  Kentucky,  whose  hearts  were 
lifted  up  for  him,  because  he  always  loved  his  country  and 
her  honor — the  children  whose  first  syllables  had  lisped 
his  name, — and  that  unfortunate  race  in  whose  behalf  had 
been  his  first  essay  in  public  life,  and  also  among  his  latest, 
to  ameliorate  and  improve  their  condition,  felt  that  they 
too  had  suffered  in  the  bereavement  which  deprived  them 
of  their  most  powerful  advocate. 

At  every  little  stopping  place  we  saw  preparations  for 
the  journey,  and  clusters  of  all  ages,  sexes,  and  colors,  and 
invariably  the  aged  and  the  youth  in  tears. 

FRANKFORT. — The  route  was  necessarily  slow  and  te- 
dious. The  afternoon  was  advanced  when  the  train  reached 
Frankfort.  They  stopped  in  front  of  the  State  House,  cov- 

111 


11  0bse(]t|ies  of 


ered,  from  the  basement  to  the  roof,  with  black.  The  ad- 
joining: houses,  and  every  point  the  eye  rested  upon,  dis- 
played similar  decorations.  Immediately  in  front  of  the 
State  House  was  drawn  up  a  line  of  remarkable  men; 
those  who  had  known  him  through  years  of  trial,  and  with 
whitened  heads  and  streaming  eyes,  they  were  there  to 
render  up  a  life  long  experience  to  his  fame,  to  his  honor 
and  to  his  inviolable  faith  and  truth.  At  their  head  was 
Governor  POWELL,  and  the  state  and  civic  authorities;  and 
beside  them  the  masonic  and  other  orders,  and  the  various 
civic  societies,  with  a  multitude  from  the  adjoining  country. 

LEXINGTON.— The  cortege  reached  Lexington  at  sun- 
down. As  far  as  the  sight,  dimmed  with  tears,  could  reach, 
there  was  one  sea  of  heads.  The  mission  of  the  Senate 
Committee  was  ended.  Gathered  in  their  car  were  the 
various  deputations — first  the  sons  of  Kentucky — her  dis- 
tinguished men — who  had  been,  to  the  great  dead,  through 
many  years  of  his  life,  as  brothers — then  that  sad  group 
from  the  far  off  city  of  New  York,  who  represented  thou- 
sands.that  bore  toward  him  the  affection  of  kindred,  the 
governor  and  the  authorities  of  the  state.  On  the  hushed 
air  broke  the  tremulous  voice  of  Judge  UNDERWOOD,  the 
surviving  colleague  of  HENRY  CLAY,  in  the  United  States 
Senate. 

"  Mr.  Chairman,  and  gentlemen  of  the  Lexington  Com- 
mittee : — Mr.  CLAY  desired  to  be  buried  in  the  ceme- 
tery of  your  city.  I  made  known  his  wish  to  the  Senate 
after  he  was  dead.  That  body,  in  consideration  of  the  re- 
spect entertained  for  him,  and  his  long  and  eminent  public 
services,  appointed  a  committee  of  six  senators  to  attend 

his  remains  to  this  place.     My  relations  to  Mr.  CLAY  as 

112 


his  colleague,  and  as  the  mover  of  the  resolution,  induced 
the  President  of  the  Senate  to  appoint  me  the  chairman  of 
the  committee.  The  other  gentlemen  comprising  the  com- 
mittee, are  distinguished,  all  of  them,  for  eminent  civil  ser- 
vices, each  having  been  the  executive  head  of  a  state  or 
territory,  and  some  of  them  no  less  distinguished  for  bril- 
liant military  achievements.  I  cannot  permit  this  occa- 
sion to  pass  without  an  expression  of  my  gratitude  to  each 
member  of  the  Senate's  Committee.  They  have,  to  testify 
their  personal  respect  and  appreciation  of  the  character, 
private  and  public,  of  Mr.  CLAY,  left  their  seats  in  the 
senate,  for  a  time,  and  honored  his  remains  by  conducting 
them  to  their  last  resting-place.  I  am  sure  that  you,  gen- 
tlemen of  the  Lexington  Committee,  and  the  people  of  Ken- 
tucky, will  ever  bear  my  associates  in  grateful  remem- 
brance. 

"  Our  journey,  since  we  left  Washington,  has  been  a  con- 
tinued procession.  Everywhere  the  people  have  pressed 
forward  to  manifest  their  feelings  toward  the  illustrious 
dead.  Delegations  from  cities,  towns  and  villages  have 
waited  on  us.  The  pure  and  the  lovely,  the  mothers  and 
daughters  of  the  land,  as  we  passed,  covered  the  coffin 
with  garlands  of  flowers,  and  bedewed  it  with  tears.  It 
has  been  no  triumphal  procession  in  honor  of  a  living  man, 
stimulated  by  hopes  of  reward.  It  has  been  the  voluntary 
tribute  of  a  free  and  grateful  people  to  the  glorious  dead. 
We  have  brought  with  us,  to  witness  the  last  sad  ceremony, 
a  delegation  from  the  Clay  Association  of  the  city  of  New 
York,  and  delegations  from  the  cities  of  Cincinnati  and 
Dayton,  in  Ohio.  Much  as  we  have  seen  on  our  way,  it  is 
small  compared  with  the  great  movement  of  popular  sym- 
pathy and  admiration  which  everywhere  burst  forth  in 

8  113 


of 


honor  of  the  departed  statesman.  The  rivulets  we  have 
witnessed  are  concentrating;  and  in  their  union  will  form 
the  ocean  tide  that  shall  lave  the  base  of  the  pyramid  of 
Mr.  CLAY'S  fame  forever. 

<;  Mr.  Chairman,  and  gentlemen  of  the  Lexington  Com- 
mittee, I  have  but  one  remaining  duty  to  perform,  and  that 
is,  to  deliver  to  you,  the  neighbors  and  friends  of  Mr. 
CLAY,  when  living,  his  dead  body  for  interment.  From 
my  acquaintance  with  your  characters,  and  especially  with 
your  chairman,  who  was  my  schoolmate  in  boyhood,  my 
associate  in  the  legislature  in  early  manhood,  and  after- 
ward a  colaborer,  for  many  years,  on  the  bench  of  the  Ap- 
pellate Court,  I  know  that  you  will  do  all  that  duty  and 
propriety  require,  in  burying  him,  whose  last  great  services 
to  his  country  were  performed  from  Christian  motives, 
without  hopes  of  office  or  earthly  reward." 

As  he  closed,  the  chairman  of  the  Lexington  Committee, 
Chief  Justice  ROBERTSON,  sharing  the  emotions  of  all  pres- 
ent, and  himself  deeply  affected,  replied  : 

"  Senator  UNDERWOOD,  Chairman,  and  Associate  Sen- 
ators of  the  Committee  of  Conveyance :— Here,  your 
long  and  mournful  cortege,  at  last  ends — your  melancholy 
mission  is  now  fulfilled — and,  this  solemn  moment,  you  dis- 
solve forever  your  official  connection  with  your  late  distin- 
guished colleague  of  Kentucky. 

"  With  mingled  emotions  of  sorrow  and  of  gratitude,  we 
receive  from  your  hands,  into  the  arms  of  his  devoted 
state  and  the  bosom  of  his  beloved  city,  all  that  now  re- 
mains on  earth  of  HENRY  CLAY.  Having  attained,  with 
signal  honor,  the  patriarchal  age  of  seventy-six,  and  hal- 
lowed his  setting  sun  by  the  crowning  act  of  his  eventful 

114 


drama,  a  wise  and  benevolent  Providence  has  seen  fit  to 
close  his  pilgrimage,  and  to  allow  him  to  act — as  we  trust 
he  was  prepared  to  act — a  still  nobler  and  better  part  in 
a  purer  world,  where  life  is  deathless.  This  was,  doubt- 
less, best  for  him,  and,  in  the  inscrutable  dispensations  of 
a  benignant  Almighty,  best  for  his  country.  Still,  it  is 
but  natural  that  his  countrymen,  and  his  neighbors  espe- 
cially, should  feel  and  exhibit  sorrow  at  the  loss  of  a  citi- 
zen so  useful,  so  eminent,  and  so  loved.  And  not  as  his 
associates  only,  but  as  Kentuckians  and  Americans,  we,  of 
Lexington  and  Fayette,  feel  grateful  for  the  unexampled 
manifestations  of  respect  for  his  memory,  to  which  you 
have  so  eloquently  alluded,  as  having  everywhere  graced 
the  more  than  triumphal  procession  of  his  dead  body  home- 
ward from  the  national  capital,  where,  in  the  public  ser- 
vice, he  fell  with  his  armor  on  and  untarnished.  We  feel, 
Mr.  Chairman,  especially  grateful  to  yourself  and  your  col- 
leagues here  present,  for  the  honor  of  your  kind  accompa- 
niment of  your  precious  deposit  to  its  last  home.  Equally 
divided  in  your  party  names,  equally  the  personal  friends 
of  the  deceased,  equally  sympathizing  with  a  whole  nation 
in  the  Providential  bereavement,  and  all  distinguished  for 
your  public  services  and  the  confidence  of  constituents, — 
you  were  peculiarly  suited  to  the  sacred  trust  of  escorting 
his  remains  to  the  spot  chosen  by  himself  for  their  repose. 
Having  performed  that  solemn  service  in  a  manner  credi- 
table to  yourselves  and  honorable  to  his  memory,  Ken- 
tucky thanks  you  for  your  patriotic  magnanimity.  And 
allow  me,  as  her  organ  on  this  valedictory  occasion,  to  ex- 
press for  her,  as  well  as  for  myself  and  committee,  the  hope 
that  your  last  days  may  be  far  distant,  and  that,  come 
when  they  may,  as  they  certainly  must  come,  sooner  or 

115 


of 


later,  to  all  of  you,  the  death  of  each  of  you  may  deserve 
to  be  honored  by  the  grateful  outpourings  of  national  re- 
spect which  signalize  the  death  of  our  universally  lamented 
CLAY. 

"  Unlike  BURKE,  he  never  '  gave  up  to  party  what  was 
meant  for  mankind.'  His  intrepid  nationality,  his  lofty 
patriotism,  and  his  comprehensive  philanthropy,  illustrated 
by  his  country's  annals  for  half  a  century,  magnified  him 
among  statesmen,  and  endeared  him  to  all  classes,  and  ages, 
and  sexes  of  his  countrymen.  And,  therefore,  his  name, 
like  WASHINGTON'S,  will  belong  to  no  party,  or  section,  or 
time. 

"  Your  kind  allusion,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  reminiscences  of 
our  personal  associations,  is  cordially  reciprocated — the 
longer  we  have  known,  the  more  we  have  respected  each 
other.  Be  assured  that  the  duty  you  have  devolved  on 
our  committee  shall  be  faithfully  performed.  The  body 
you  commit  to  us  shall  be  properly  interred  in  a  spot  of  its 
mother  earth,  which,  as  '  THE  GRAVE  OF  CLAY,'  will  be 
more  and  more  consecrated  by  .time  to  the  affections  of 
mankind. 

"  How  different,  however,  would  have  been  the  feelings 
of  us  all,  if,  instead  of  the  pulseless,  speechless,  breathless 
CLAY,  now  in  cold  and  solemn  silence  before  us,  you  had 
brought  with  you  to  his  family  and  neighbors,  the  living 
man,  in  all  the  majesty  of  his  transcendent  moral  power,  as 
we  once  knew  and  often  saw  and  heard  him.  But,  with 
becoming  resignation,  we  bow  to  a  dispensation  which  was 
doubtless  as  wise  and  beneficent  as  it  was  melancholy  and 
inevitable. 

"  To  the  accompanying  committees  from  New  York,  Day- 
ton and  Cincinnati,  we  tender  our  profound  acknowledg- 


ments  for  their  voluntary  sacrifice  of  time  and  comfort  to 
honor  the  obsequies  of  our  illustrious  countryman. 

"  In  this  sacred  and  august  presence  of  the  illustrious 
dead,  were  an  eulogistic  speech  befitting  the  occasion,  it 
could  not  be  made  by  me.  /  could  not  thus  speak  over  the 
dead  body  of  HENRY  CLAY.  Kentucky  expects  not  me,  nor 
any  other  of  her  sons,  to  speak  his  eulogy  now,  if  ever. 
She  would  leave  that  grateful  task  to  other  states  and  to 
other  times.  His  name  needs  not  our  panegyric.  The 
carver  of  his  own  fortune,  the  founder  of  his  own  name; 
with  his  own  hands  he  has  built  his  own  monument,  and 
with  his  own  tongue  and  his  own  pen  he  has  stereotyped 
his  autobiography.  With  hopeful  trust  his  maternal  com- 
monwealth consigns  his  fame  to  the  justice  of  history  and 
to  the  judgment  of  ages  to  come.  His  ashes  he  bequeathed 
to  her,  and  they  will  rest  in  her  bosom  until  the  judgment 
day;  his  fame  will  descend,  as  the  common  heritage  of  his 
country,  to  every  citizen  of  that  Union,  of  which  he  was 
thrice  the  triumphant  champion,  and  whose  genius  and 
value  are  so  beautifully  illustrated  by  his  model  life. 

"  But,  though  we  feel  assured  that  his  renown  will  survive 
the  ruins  of  the  capitol  he  so  long  and  so  admirably  graced, 
yet  Kentucky  Avill  rear  to  his  memory  a  magnificent  mau- 
soleum— a  votive  monument — to  mark  the  spot  where  his 
relics  shall  sleep,  and  to  testify  to  succeeding  generations, 
that  our  republic,  however  unjust  it  may  too  often  be  to 
living  merit,  will  ever  cherish  a  grateful  remembrance  of 
the  dead  patriot,  who  dedicated  his  life  to  his  country,  and 
with  rare  ability,  heroic  firmness,  and  self-sacrificing  con- 
stancy, devoted  his  talents  and  his  time  to  the  cause  of 
PATRIOTISM,  of  LIBERTY,  and  of  TRUTH." 

117 


05sec]t|ies  of"1' 


At  the  close  of  this  address,  the  procession  was  formed, 
led  by  a  cavalcade  of  horsemen,  preceding  the  hearse, 
which  was  followed  by  the  Senate  Committee,  and  the  dep- 
utation from  the  Clay  Festival  Association,  in  carriages, 
as  mourners:  the  Clay  Guard,  of  Cincinnati;  the  deputa- 
tion of  fourteen,  from  Dayton,  Ohio;  the  seventy-six,  from 
Louisville,  and  the  citizens  in  the  rear — their  march  being 
under  the  funeral  arches,  and  through  the  sombre  street — 
lined  by  the  silent  multitude — toward  that  place  known 
to  every  inhabitant  of  the  republic,  and  throughout  the 
civilized  world,  as  the  home  of  the  great  commoner. 

Who  can  fittingly  speak  of  the  agonized  group  awaiting, 
at  Ashland,  the  arrival  of  the  dust  of  him,  who  had  been 
husband,  father  and  the  beloved  master  ?  That  wife,  who 
for  fifty-three  years  and  upward,  had  been  his  faithful 
partner, — sharer  of  his  triumphs  and  of  his  many  trials; 
whose  saint-like  virtues  had  secured  to  her  the  affection 
and  veneration  of  all  classes,  in  the  place  where  she  was 
so  well  known;  herself  more  than  threescore  years  a  so- 
journer  on  earth,  having  survived  her  parents  and  all 
her  daughters,  with  gallant  sons  mouldering  in  the  tomb, 
bending  beneath  the  weight  of  this,  her  speechless  sorrow; 
bowing  with  years,  and  broken  in  health,  amid  surviving 
children,  grandchildren  and  kindred,  and  gathering  around 
them,  the  old  and  young  of  their  servants,  awaited  there 
the  remains  of  her  peerless  husband. 

Guided  by  the  many  torches,  the  train  moved  through 
the  grounds,  designed  and  laid  out  under  his  supervision. 
It  was  in  truth  a  solemn — a  holy  scene.  Under  the  dark 
shadows  of  the  spreading  grove,  treading  on  a  lawn  where 
the  wild  flower,  the  myrtle  and  the  laurel  were  strangely 
mingled,  they  bore  him  toward  that  portal  which  had  last 

118 


fteit I'll  City* 


seen  him  depart  near  the  close  of  the  preceding  year,  im- 
pelled again  to  cross  the  mountains,  and  to  tread  the  Halls 
of  Council,  because  there  had  come  to  him  a  rumor  of 
threatened  resumption  of  hostilities,  against  the  peace,  the 
concord,  the  happy  prosperity  of  the  country  and  the  Union, 
the  gods  of  his  earthly  idolatry.  There  the  fell  destroyer 
smote  his  lordliest  victim.  He  had  left  his  honored  home, 
the  owner  of  a  nation's  love,  and  possessed  of  the  esteem 
and  respect  of  all  Europe.  He  was  now  being  borne  life- 
less into  those  halls,  and  on  the  air  was  heard  a  peoples' 
lamentation,  as  they  mourned  the  loss  of  their  nearest 
friend  and  greatest  benefactor. 

They  gently  laid  him  beneath  his  roof  tree,  and  in  that 
room  where  he  had  for  half  a  century  received  the  homage 
of  countless  thousands,  representing  all  classes  and  call- 
ings— the  gifted  and  the  great  of  either  sex — coming  from 
every  country,  and  traveling  from  all  directions,  to  Lex- 
ington, that  they  might  thus,  in  person,  pay  tribute  to  the 
worth,  the  genius,  the  patriotism,  and  surpassing  excellence 
of  the  private  and  public  character  of  the  illustrious  host. 

Beside  the  bier  were  gathered  his  sons,  some  of  his 
grandsons,  and  nephews  ;  behind  these  the  family  servants 
— not  forgetting  old  Aaron  and  Duke — each  of  whom  were 
the  seniors,  one  by  nearly  a  score  of  years,  of  their  deceased 
friend  and  master. 

Slowly  and  reverentially  his  honored  bearers  departed 
from  the  house  of  mourning;  sad  and  thoughtful  faces 
peered  through  the  gathering  darkness,  as  they  sought  to 
penetrate  the  then  gloomy  looking  demesne,  of  that  which 
was  to  each  beholder  sacred  ground.  The  memory  of 
Ashland  and  of  Mount  Vernon.  will  be,  to  American  minds, 
the  Meccas  of  the  heart,  so  long  as  this  Union  shall  endure, 

119 


(9bgec[i(ies  of 

from  generation  to  generation,  to  the  latest  posterity. 
And  so  they  still  slowly  departed,  looking  back  until  even 
the  very  shadows  folded  themselves  into  the  night,  some 
wearied  with  deep  feeling  and  trying,  touching  scenes 
spread  over  days  of  fatiguing  travel,  crowded  with  events, 
through  which  they  had  journeyed,  toward  this  garden  of 
"  the  dark  and  bloody  ground."  to  lay  in  the  tomb  the 
BAYARD  of  their  country's  fame  and  honor. 

The  Clay  Guard,  of  Cincinnati,  solicited  the  honor  of 
watching  over  his  remains — this,  the  last  night  before  sep- 
ulture. It  was  granted  to  them,  and  so  arranged  that  they 
relieved  each  other — the  alternate  hours  until  daylight. 

In  the  deep  hours  of  the  night— alone  with  him  and  her 
Qod — the  widow  knelt  beside  her  husband's  corse.  For 
that  hour  it  was  directed  that  she  should  not  be  disturbed. 
In  that  hour  what  other  heart  knew  her  thronging  memo- 
ries of  joys  and  sorrows,  save  the  spirit  of  the  dead  she 
longed  to  join.  In  1844,  when  he  was  the  victim  of  a  thou- 
sand schemes  to  track  his  way  and  prevent  his  election  to 
the  presidency,  she  had,  on  the  night  that  knew  his  defeat, 
knelt  beside  his  living  form,  and  inclosing  him  within  the 
strong  arms  of  aifection,  uttered  those  words,  never  to  be 
forgotten,  "My  husband,  this  ungrateful  people  can  never 
truly  appreciate  you  while  living;  thank  God,  they  have  left 
you  in  the  bosom  of  your  family,  and  in  this,  your  dear  Ash- 
land." They  had  commenced  together  the  struggles  of 
life.  Together  they  had  planned  their  home — together 
they  had  arranged  their  grounds,  and  with  their  own  hands 
had  planted  the  young  shoots  of  what  now  were  the  stately 
trees,  that  in  the  intense  stillness  of  that  night,  were  sough- 
ing and  sighing  nature's  dirge  for  their  dead  owner.  Life 
had  opened  to  them  full  of  the  bright  hope  and  promise  that 

120 


tbnrjiGhjj. 


^-,1 


belong  to  youth,  energy,  and  commanding  abilities.  She 
had  seen  him  leap  into  a  dazzling  greatness,  reflecting 
honor  and  dignity  upon  his  native  land,  lifting  his  young 
state  to  the  front  rank  of  her  compeers,  and  conferring 
prosperity  upon  his  country  and  her  citizens,  while  he  gave 
stability  and  permanence  to  the  institutions  and  laws  of 
the  land,  and  cemented  together  the  Union,  as  he  ardently 
desired,  prayed  for,  and  labored  ceaselessly  to  accomplish, 
from  end  to  end — from  centre  to  circumference.  And  he 
bore  all  these  accumulated  and  thickening  honors  with 
such  dignity,  and  all  his  high  offices  so  truly  great  while  in 
their  active  discharge,  and  so  meekly  when  away  from  them, 
and  in  the  midst  of  his  family  and  friends,  that  he  was  there 
always  so  simple  and  unaffected,  these  clung  to  him  with 
intensity  beyond  description,  and  hung  about  his  heart,  as 
the  shield  that  warded  from  it  all  the  envenomed  arrows, 
that  through  so  many  years  were  showered  at  that  mark. 
There  was  born  to  them,  in  this  happy  home,  eleven  chil- 
dren— six  daughters  and  five  sons.  Where  were  they  now? 
No  daughter  survived  on  whose  breast  that  aged  head 
could  rest.  Their  eldest  born  was  worse  than  dead,  living 
for  many  years  a  confirmed  lunatic;  and  yet  another  son, 
whose  sanity  is  not  always  reliable;  and  how  deep  had  been 
their  joint  sorrow  when  their  accomplished  and  beautiful 
daughter-in-law,  Julia,  the  wife  of  their  son  Henry,  had 
been  prematurely  laid  in  her  grave,  and  then  found  too 
that  there  they  had  buried  that  son's  heart.  She  saw  then, 
that  son  of  promise,  named  after  his  father,  crimsoning  the 
ground  of  Buena  Vista,  with  his  blood.  It  was  but  a  little 
while  before  that  the  aged  pair  had  wept  beside  the 
honored  tomb,  at  the  capital  of  the  state,  where  Ken- 
tucky, in  proud  grief,  surrounded  by  thousands  of  her 

121 


gallant  men,  had  laid  him  beneath  the  sculptured  marble. 
That  day  her  husband's  corse  had  been  borne  past  that 
son's  tomb.  All  the  past,  painfully  extended,  and  seem- 
ingly interminable  winter,  she  had  been  wrung  with 
that  hopeless  grief  which  attends  loving  and  suffering  na- 
tures, necessarily  separated  from  one  another.  Her  own 
life  was  whiling  away,  and  each  had  the  additional  pang  of 
knowing  that  other's  illness,  and  yet  realizing  the  impossi- 
bility of  ever  being  again  together  during  life. 

"  Why,"  said  she,  "  should  I  grieve,  or  mourn,  or  weep  ? 
He  has  departed,  possessed  of  a  nation's  love.  He  died  as 
he  had  wished  to  die — in  the  full  hope  of  the  humble  but 
trusting  Christian.  It  is  but  a  short  time — a  few  months 
— perhaps  a  year — not  longer — and  we  will  be  united  for- 
ever." In  that  dread  hour,  who  shall  say  the  years  that 
lone  matron  lived  were  not  a  decade  ?  Through  her  throng- 
ed mind  passed  the  remembrances  of  a  life-time.  She  has 
the  sympathy  and  regard  of  millions,  and  in  that  watch  of 
the  dead,  she  was  companioned  by  the  thoughts  or  dreams 
of  countless  thousands,  who  remembered  what  event  the 
morrow  was  to  commemorate  in  history.  "  The  peace  of 
our  Lord,  which  passeth  all  understanding,  be  with  her 
and  remain  with  her  always." 

SATUEDAY,  JULY  10. 

Long  before  the  day  had  fairly  broke,  every  avenue  of 
approach  to  the  city  was  crowded  by  those  who  came  up 
to  render  their  last  tribute  to  him  who  had  always,  living, 
received  their  measureless  devotion.  For  three  days  the 
current  had  set  that  way.  Each  public  and  private  house 
was  overflowing .  The  whole  city  teemed  with  their  visi- 
tants. It  was  computed  that  nearly  one  hundred  thousand 


jte*)rt|  tJiqii. 


persons,  of  all  classes  and  sexes,  had  come  together  on  that 
memorable  occasion.  The  multitude  who  could  find  no 
other  resting-place,  slept  in  the  market,  and  in  the  court 
house.  Every  barn,  stable  and  out  house,  was  filled  with 
tired  occupants. 

At  an  early  hour,  those  appointed  to  meet  at  Ashland, 
had  gathered  together  within  the  house.  The  pall-bearers, 
his  oldest  and  most  distinguished  friends  in  Kentucky, 
the  Senate  Committee,  and  the  deputation  of  the  Clay 
Festival  Association,  with  his  family  and  kindred.  In 
front  were  arranged  the  deputations  from  other  states,  from 
the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  a  dense  crowd  were  in  a  semi- 
circular array  before  the  porch.  Upon  a  bier,  cushioned 
with  flowers,  and  immediately  in  front  of  the  door,  they 
laid  the  iron  coffin  that  inclosed  the  body  of  HENRY  CLAY. 
Upon  it  shone  a  clear,  cloudless  sun.  Upon  the  breast 
of  it  reposed  the  civic  wreaths  of  the  Clay  Festival  Asso- 
ciation; the  wreath  of  immortelles;  the  laurel  wreaths 
from  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia,  and  bouquets  from 
Washington,  Wilmington,  Trenton  and  Little  Falls;  while 
strewed  around  were  the  floral  offerings  of  every  prin- 
cipal place,  from  the  national  capital  to  the  grave. 

It  was  as  bright  a  day  in  1844,  toward  the  close  of  that 
year,  but  nature  had  put  on  her  sere  and  yellow  leaf,  when 
that  same  spot,  and  that  same  lawn,  were  witnesses  of  a 
great  and  solemn  spectacle.  The  State  of  Kentucky  came 
to  the  Sage  of  Ashland — her  electoral  college,  her  state 
authorities  and  congressional  representatives,  her  citizens 
from  the  most  distant  places  within  her  limits,  the  daugh- 
ters of  Kentucky  and  the  military  companies  of  Frankfort 
and  Lexington.  Then,  as  now,  that  immense  audience 
were  bathed  in  tears.  Upon  that  green,  the  same  Judge 

123 


0bse 


UNDERWOOD,  then  President  of  the  College  of  Electors, 
now  Chairman  of  the  Senate  Committee,  having  in  charge 
the  remains  of  HENRY  CLAY,  was  their  spokesman.  Then 
he  thus  closed  his  speech  :  "  In  the  shades  of  Ashland,  may 
you  long  continue  to  enjoy  peace,  quiet,  and  the  possession 
of  those  great  faculties  which  rendered  you  the  admiration 
of  your  friends  and  the  benefactor  of  your  country.  And 
when,  at  last,  death  shall  demand  its  victim,  while  Ken- 
tucky will  contain  your  ashes,  rest  assured,  that  old  and 
faithful  friends,  those  who,  knowing  you  longest,  loved 
you  best,  will  cherish  your  memory  and  defend  your  repu- 
tation." 

"The  Mill  boy  of  the  Slashes;"  the  youthful  devotee  of 
the  Fathers  of  the  country;  the  eloquent  advocate  of  eman- 
cipation in  Kentucky  before  this  century  had  commenced,  or 
the  constitution  of  his  state  had  been  framed;  the  dauntless 
foe  of  oppression  and  tyranny  everywhere;  always  the  cham- 
pion of  American  interests;  the  great  commoner;  the  au- 
thor of  the  war  of  1812;  the  negotiator  of  the  peace  of 
1815,  and  the  convention  with  Great  Britain;  the  benefac- 
tor of  the  South  American  republics,  he  "  had  looked 
abroad  and  called  a  new  world  into  existence;"  the  savior 
of  his  country  in  the  Missouri  compromise;  the  friend  of 
Greece  in  the  burning  eloquence  of  1824,  while  Speaker; 
their  able  advocate  as  Secretary  of  State,  securing  the  as- 
sistance of  Russia,  through  which  thus  closed  their  struggle, 
and  through  the  same  power  procuring  the  acknowledg- 
ment, by  Spain,  of  the  Independence  of  South  America; 
restoring  the  peace  of  the  country  by  the  compromise  of 
1833;  exposing,  by  his  own  self-sacrifice,  the  dangerous 
tendencies  of  fanaticism  aimed  at  the  lawful  institutions 
of  the  country;  preserving  peace  with  France  in  1835;  his 


Ttei)N|   thin 


almost  numberless  acts  of  public  service  during  fifty  years; 
closing  that  series  of  self-sacrifices  by  offering  up  his  own 
life  as  the  costly  price  at  which  the  country  saw  the  "  sla- 
very issues"  finally  adjusted  and  settled,  in  1850;  and  be- 
fore that  great  drama  of  his  life  had  closed,  the  two  lead- 
ing political  divisions  had  solemnly  indorsed  those  prin- 
ciples as  their  common  chart,  by  which  the  ship  of  state 
should  be  hereafter  conducted. 

From  that  solemn  bed  of  death  to  his  own  sweet  home, 
millions  had  attested  their  love.  Dying  on  the  29th  of 
June,  his  body  rested  on  that  Sabbath,  which  was  at  once 
the  Lord's  day,  and  the  anniversary  of  the  nation's  Holy- 
day  of  Independence.  And  on  that  day  every  minister 
of  GOD  solemnly  attested  to  his  hearers  the  greatness 
and  the  goodness  of  the  dead;  and  every  orator,  the  next 
day,  when  the  anniversary  was  celebrated,  paused,  and  in 
befitting  language  eulogized  the  life  and  public  services  of 
HEXRY  CLAY.  Through  thousands  of  miles  that  the  con- 
tinuous procession  had  journeyed,  on  every  side  the  mourn- 
ing multitude  had  passed,  and  the  eye  everywhere  rested 
upon  the  dark  draperies  of  woe;  wending  their  slow  way 
between  funeral  arches,  and  inscriptions,  and  mottoes,  and 
paintings,  and  busts,  and  statues,  and  monumental  columns 
erected  on  the  instant, — all  these  decked  in  honor  of  the 
friend  of  mankind.  Men,  women,  and  children,  even  of  the 
tenderest  years,  all  bore,  in  their  saddened  features  and 
tear-stained  faces,  those  most  eloquent  testimonials  of  his 
worth.  From  Washington  to  the  tomb  was  one  votive  of- 
fering of  wreaths  of  oak,  immortelles,  the  cypress,  the  ivy 
and  the  laurel — bouquets  of  flowers  of  every  species,  and  in 
wondrous  profusion.  These  alone,  if  it  had  been  possible 
to  collect  them,  would  have  piled  a  monument.  It  was  no 


®bsec)t|ies  of 


unfrequent  sight  to  witness  youth  and  beauty  bend  and 
press  their  lips  upon  his  sable  shroud.  Old  men  would 
pause  beside  his  iron  case,  and  burst  into  uncontrollable 
sobs.  Early  manhood  and  middle  age.  that  had  banked 
their  hopes  in  him,  and  clung  to  him  as  their  chieftain  and 
leader,  to  the  last  moment  resisting  the  assured  certainty 
that  they  were  no  more  to  listen  to  that  silver  voice,  nor 
hang  upon  its  tones,  with  speechless  woe  at  length  realized, 
that  for  the  future,  his  memory,  and  the  preservation  of  his 
patriotic  principles  were  their  future  charge. 

His  late  colleagues  in  the  senate — that  revered  band  of 
chosen  intimates,  who  were  honored  as  his  pall-bearers, 
the  New  York  delegation,  and  his  family  and  kindred, 
grouped  near  the  porch  and  within  his  dwelling;  on  the 
porch  stood  the  minister  of  GOD,  at  whose  hand  he  had  re- 
ceived the  sacrament,  when  last  he  was  alive,  within  those 
halls — the  same  minister  who  had  baptized  him,  his  chil- 
dren that  were  left  to  him,  and  the  children  of  his  dead 
son,  Col.  CLAY — while  all  around  the  eye  rested  on  his 
near  friends  and  neighbors,  who  were  there  assembled,  and 
yet,  without  these,  lines  of  people  from  many  states,  and  the 
far  off  counties  of  his  own. 

The  funeral  services  were  performed  by  the  Rev. 
EDWARD  F.  BERKLEY,  Rector  of  Christ  Church,  Lexing- 
ton. Never,  perhaps,  did  that  impressive  service  fall 
upon  the  ear  more  solemnly  than  then.  And  then  the 
preacher  lifted  up  his  voice  and  thus  addressed  the  people: 

"  MY  FRIENDS  : — A  Nation's  griefs  are  bursting  forth  at 
the  fall  of  one  of  her  noblest  sons. 

"  A  mighty  man  in  wisdom — in  intellect — in  truth — lies 
in  our  presence  to-day,  insensible,  inanimate  and  cold. 


!fcnl\i|  6iqj|. 


The  heart  which  once  beat  with  a  pure  and  lofty  patriot- 
ism— shall  beat  no  more.  The  renowned  Statesman,  who 
was  learned  in  the  laws  of  diplomacy  and  government, 
will  never  again  give  his  counsel  in  affairs  of  State.  And 
the  voice  which  was  ever  raised  in  behalf  of  truth  and  lib- 
erty, is  silenced  forever ! 

"  Indulge  me  in  a  remark  or  two,  whilst  I  speak  of  him; 
and  in  consideration  of  the  personal  comfort  of  this  im- 
mense assembly,  my  words  shall  be  few. 

"This  is  neither  a  proper  place  nor  a  fit  occasion  to 
dwell  on  the  peculiar  and  striking  incidents  of  his  public 
life;  and  I  mean  to  say  a  few  words  only  of  his  character 
as  viewed  in  connection  with  religion. 

"  We  have  not  come  here  to  weave  a  garland  of  praises 
for  the  brow  of  the  fallen  statesman,  nor  to  throw  the  in- 
cense of  adulation  upon  the  urn  which  incloses  his  ashes; 
but  we  have  come  here  to  pay  the  la«t  offices  of  respect 
and  affection,  to  a  neighbor  and  a  friend;  and  to  draw, 
from  the  visitation  which  has  stricken  down  one  of  the 
mightiest  of  our  mighty  men,  such  lessons  as  are  calculated 
to  teach  us  '  what  shadows  we  are,  and  what  shadows  we 
pursue.' 

"  Our  venerated  friend  has  been  before  the  public  eye 
for  half  a  century;  and  for  nearly  the  whole  of  that  period 
in  the  occupancy  of  high  public  places.  He  has  done  the 
State  great  service.  He  combined  in  his  character  such 
elements  as  could  make  him  no  other  man  than  he  was, 
except,  that  he  might  have  been  as  great  a  soldier  as  he 
was  a  Statesman  and  Orator.  But  the  crowning  excellence 
of  all  his  virtues,  was  this — he  was  a  Christian. 

"  As  he  was  eminently  open,  candid,  and  honest,  in  his 
long  public  career,  so  was  he  deeply  sincere  in  his  adop- 


tion,  as  the  rule  of  his  life,  of  the  principles  of  our  holy 
religion. 

"Although  the  SUDS  of  seventy  summers  had  shone  down 
upon  him  before  he  made  a  public  profession  of  CHRIST,  yet, 
when  he  did  make  it,  he  did  it,  not  mechanically,  and  as  a 
matter  of  course,  because  he  was  an  old  man — he  did  it 
heartily,  and  upon  conviction,  because  he  felt  himself  to 
be  a  sinner,  and  because  he  felt  the  need  of  a  Savior ! 
And  when  he  came  to  make  the  inquiry,  What  shall  I  do  ? 
and  it  was  told  him  what  he  ought  to  do — he  did  it  gladly 
— he  made  haste  to  fulfill  the  purposes  of  his  heart.  And 
his  great  mind  being  brought  to  the  investigation  of  the 
pure  and  simple  doctrines  of  the  Cross,  new  beauties,  in  a 
new  world  broke  in  upon  him,  of  the  existence  of  which, 
to  their  full  extent,  he  had  never  dreamed  before.  And  I 
know,  that  in  times  when  he  lay  under  the  hand  of  disease, 
and  of  great  bodily  infirmity,  here  at  home,  he  clung  to 
those  doctrines,  by  a  lively  faith,  as  the  highest  consola- 
tions of  his  soul. 

"  Although  he  had  his  Church  preferences,  yet  the  power 
and  influence  of  the  teachings  of  Christianity,  rightly  un- 
derstood, gave  rise  to  sympathies  in  his  nature,  which  ex- 
tended to  all  Christian  people. 

"  Surrounded  as  he  was,  by  the  allurements  and  fascina- 
tions of  a  high  public  place,  nevertheless,  he  strove  to 
walk  in  the  pure  and  perfect  way;  and  by  a  steady  main- 
tenance of  the  principles  which  bound  him  to  religion  and 
to  GOD — like  the  eagle,  with  his  eye  fixed  upon  the  sun, 
his  course  was  onward  and  upward ! 

"  And  these  principles,  which  our  illustrious  friend  found 
so  comforting  and  consoling  in  life,  did  not  forsake  him 
when  he  had  nothing  else  on  earth  to  cling  to. 

12-i 


"  In  reference  to  some  of  his  last  hours,  a  lady,  connected^ 
with  him  by  family,  who  recently  spent  several  days  at  his 
bedside,  writes  :  '  He  is  longing  to  be  gone,  and  said  some- 
thing of  this  kind  to  me,  which  caused  me  to  ask  him,  if 
he  did  not  feel  perfectly  willing  to  wait  until  the  Almighty 
called  him.  He  replied,  0,  my  dear  child,  do  not  misun- 
derstand me — I  supplicate  Him  continually  for  patience  to 
do  so.  I  am  ready  to  go — no,  not  ready,  but  willing.  We 
are  none  of  us  ready.  We  cannot  trust  in  our  own  merits, 
but  must  look  to  Him  entirely.'1 

"  The  writer  adds  :  '  He  is  the  most  gentle,  patient,  and 
affectionate  sick  person  I  almost  ever  saw — thanks  you  for 
every  thing,  and  is  as  little  trouble  as  he  can  possibly  be.' 

"  And  this  is  the  power  of  religion  upon  a  vigorous  and 
discriminating  mind — a  mind  fully  capable  of  meeting  all 
the  great  emergencies  which  have  ever  arisen  in  its  col. 
lisions  with  other  great  minds,  at  the  bar,  in  the  senate,  and 
upon  the  forum. 

"And  0,  the  recollection  to  mourning  friends,  and  to  a 
mourning  country  is  of  the  most  consoling  interest,  that, 
as  in  his  life,  by  his  genius  and  wisdom,  he  threw  light, 
and  peace,  and  blessing,  upon  his  country;  so,  in  his  death, 
the  Glorious  Giver  of  grace  and  wisdom,  threw  light,  and 
peace,  and  blessing  upon  him — borne  upward,  as  he  was, 
by  the  aspirations  to  heaven — of  a  million  hearts. 

"  But  his  earthly  career  is  run.  Full  of  age  and  full  of 
honors,  he  goes  down  to  earth,  to  ashes  and  to  dust.  A 
man  of  extraordinary  genius.  A  man  of  the  highest  prac- 
tical wisdom — possessing  the  largest  powers  of  true  elo- 
quence— a  pure  patriot — a  sincere  Christian,  and  a  friend 
of  his  race. 

"  His  friends  will  grieve  for  him — the  Church  has  lost 

9  129 


of 


him — his  country  will  bewail  him — and  hereafter,  when 
the  passing  traveler  shall  come  to  Ashland,  and  look  for 
the  bland,  agreeable  and  hospitable  host,  he  will  not  find 
him  here  !  His  aged  wife,  who,  for  more  than  fifty  years, 
has  grieved  with  him  in  his  sorrows,  and  rejoiced  with  him 
in  his  public  success,  shall  go  down  unto  the  grave,  mourning 
— and  men,  in  every  civilized  nation  of  the  earth,  will  shed 
a  tear  at  the  fall  of  such  a  man.  But  he  is  gone  to  a 
brighter  and  a  better  world.  Whilst  this  memorial  shall 
remain  of  him  here,  that  he  was  as  simple  and  sincere  in 
his  religion,  as  he  was  great  in  wisdom  and  mighty  in 
intellect. 

"  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons.  Neither  genius,  nor 
wisdom,  nor  power,  nor  greatness  can  avert  the  fatal  darts 
which  fly  thick  and  fast  around  us.  If  public  services  of 
the  highest  value — a  fair  fame  which  reaches  to  the  utmost 
habitations  of  civilized  man,  and  an  integrity  as  stern  as 
steel,  could  have  done  this — a  nation  had  not  been  in  tears 
to-day. 

"  But  the  great  and  the  humble — the  useful  and  the  use- 
less— the  learned  and  the  ignorant — the  mighty  and  the 
mean — the  public  and  the  private  man — must  all,  alike,  lie 
down  in  the  cold  chambers  of  the  grave !  Death  is  the 
common  leveller  of  men  and  of  nations.  Temples  and 
monuments,  which  have  been  erected  to  perpetuate  the 
achievements  of  statesmen  and  of  heroes  in  past  ages,  have 
been  ruined  and  robbed  of  their  grandeur  by  the  insatiable 
tooth  of  time — not  a  vestige  remains  of  the  glory  that 
once  covered  the  earth,  and  not  a  stone  to  mark  the  spot 
where  the. master  of  the  world  was  laid. 

"  And  this  is  the  end  of  man  !  This,  the  obscurity  and 
oblivion  to  which  he  shall  come  at  last !  But  his  end  may 

ISO 


ite^ueujj. 


be  worse  than  this,  if  he  had  no  hope  in  the  blessed  SA- 
VIOK'S  death.  For,  whoever  confides  in  the  world  for  the 
bestowment  of  true  happiness — whoever  trusts  to  its  gains, 
its  pleasures,  or  its  honors,  to  bring  him  peace  at  the  last, 
will  find  himself  miserably  imposed  upon,  and  grievously 
deluded.  He  will  find  that  this  misplaced  confidence  will 
involve  him  in  ruin,  as  inevitable,  as  it  will  be — eternal ! 

'  Lean  not  on  earth!  'twill  pierce  thee  to  the  heart: — 
A  broken  reed  at  best,  but  oft  a  spear ! 
On  its  sharp  point,  peace  bleeds,  and  hope  expires.' 

"  If  we  aspire  to  a  true,  a  deathless  immortality,  let  us 
not  seek  it  in  the  praises  of  men,  or  in  the  enrollment  of 
our  name  upon  the  page  of  history — for  these  all  shall  per- 
ish ! — but  let  us  seek,  by  obedience  to  GOD,  and  a  recogni- 
tion of  the  claims  of  religion,  to  have  our  names  written  in 
the  Lamb's  Book  of  Life.  This,  and  this  only,  will  guaran- 
tee an  immortality  as  imperishable  as  the  heavens,  and  as 
certain  as  the  Life  of  GOD. 

"  The  observation  is  almost  universal,  that  '  all  men 
think  all  men  mortal  but  themselves.'  And  yet  there  is 
nothing  more  surely  reserved  for  us  in  the  future,  than 
disease  and  dissolution.  And  these  too,  may,  and  very 
often  do,  come  when  we  are  least  expecting  a  disturbance 
of  our  plans. 

"  The  statesman  falls'with  plans  of  future  glory  yet  un- 
accomplished;— the  poet  expires  in  the  midst  of  his  song, 
and  the  magic  of  his  muse  lingers  on  his  dying  lips; — the 
sculptor  drops  his  chisel  before  he  has  taught  the  marble 
to  breathe, — and  the  painter  his  pencil,  while  the  living 
figures  on  his  canvass  are  yet  unfinished; — the  sword  slips 
from  the  hand  of  the  warrior,  before  the  battle  is  Avon,— 

131 


• 

Obsequies  of 


and  the  orator  is  silenced,  while  the  words  of  wisdom  are 
yet  dropping  in  sweetest  accents  from  his  lips.'' 

"'I  said  ye  are  GOD'S,  and  children  of  the  Most  High, 
but  ye  shall  die  like  men.' 

"  Xo  consideration  can  purchase  a  moment's  respite, 
when  the  decree  shall  go  forth,  '  this  night  thy  soul  shall 
be  required  of  thee !'  whether  it  be  uttered  at  the  doors  of 
the  stately  mansion,  or  at  the  cot  of  the  lowly  poor.  And 
not  to  be  wisely  and  well  prepared  to  hear  this  summons, 
is  destructive  of  the  best  interests  of  the  soul.  Happy 
they  who  have  made  a  friend  in  GOD.  Happy  they  who 
have  done,  and  they  who  do  this  in  early  life — the  fail- 
ing of  which,  in  his  case,  our  revered  friend  so  often 
himself  regretted — thrice  happy  they  in  whom  greatness 
and  goodness  meet  together.  Imperishable  joys  shall  be 
awarded  to  them.  They  shall  shine  as  stars  in  the  firma- 
ment forever  and  ever.  In  each  successive  generation 
their  '  memory  shall  be  blessed,'  and  their  '  name  be  had  in 
everlasting  remembrance;'  and,  'their  conflicts  o'er,  their 
labors  done,'  the  ransomed  spirit  shall  escape  from  the 
prison  that  confines  it  to  the  earth,  and  the  King  of  Kings 
shall  bind  upon  their  victorious  brow,  wreaths  of  unfading 
glory,  in  that  blest  place — 

'  Where  pain,  and  -\venriness,  and  sorrow  cease, 
And  cloudless  sunshine  fills  the  land  of  peace.' 

"  Our  great  friend  and  countryman  is  dead  !  He  has  no 
more  connection  with  the  living  world,  and  we  are  about 
to  bear  his  honored  remains  to  the  beautiful  spot,  where 
our  own  dead  lay,  and  around  which  our  memories  love  to 
linger.  What  to  him,  I  ask  you,  are  now  the  policy,  or 
the  politics  of  the  country  ?  What  to  him,  now,  are  the 

132 


nice  points  upon  which  turn  the  honor  of  the  State  ?  What 
to  him,  now,  is  the  extension  of  empire  ? — the  rise  or  fall 
of  nations? — the  dethronement  or  the  establishment  of 
kings  ?  His  work  is  done,  and  well  done.  As  it  is  with 
him,  so  shall  it  shortly  be  with  every  one  of  us.  Then, 

'  So  live,  that  when  thy  summons  comes,  to  join 
The  innumerable  caravan,  that  moves 
To  the  pale  realms  of  shade,  where  each  shall  take 
His  chamber  in  the  silent  halls  of  death — 
Thou  go  not,  like  the  quarry  slave  at  night, 
Scourg'd  to  his  dungeon;  but  sustained  and  soothed 
By  an  unfaltering  trust,  approach  thy  grave 
Like  one  who  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams.' 

"  One  word  more.  The  distinguished  subject  of  our 
present  attention,  has  fallen  a  martyr  to  his  country.  The 
cause  of  his  sickness  and  his  death  originated  in  his  last 
great  efforts  in  securing  the  passage,  through  Congress,  of 
certain  measures,  known  as  THE  COMPROMISE.  In  more 
senses  than  one,  may  he  receive  the  heavenly  welcome, 
'  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant.'  His  love  of  coun- 
try— his  enthusiasm  in  any  cause  in  which  her  interests 
were  involved — his  great  and  singular  powers — his  won- 
derful and  controlling  influence  over  even  great  minds, 
marked  him  as  the  man  of  the  age,  and  adapted  him,  in  a 
peculiar  manner,  to  act  and  to  lead  in  grave  questions  of 
government. 

"  And  if,  in  the  future,  any  one  section  of  this  great  re- 
public should  be  arrayed  in  hostility  against  another;  and 
any  cruel  hand  shall  be  uplifted  to  sever  the  bonds  which 
unite  us  together  as  a  common  people — the  Genius  of  Lib- 
erty shall  come  down  in  anguish  and  in  tears,  and  throw- 
ing herself  prostrate  before  his  tomb,  implore  the  Mighty 


of 


Ruler  of  nations— for  thejpreservation  of  our  Institutions, 
and  the  protection  of  our  Liberty,  and  of  our  Union — to 
raise  up  from  his  ashes,  another  CLAY  !  " 

At  the  close  of  this  address,  for  some  moments  the  pres- 
sure of  the  crowd  around  the  bier  was  so  great  as  to  ren- 
der it  almost  impossible  to  place  the  coffin  in  the  hearse. 

The  procession  from  Ashland  was  then  formed  : 

The  Senate  Committee. 
Delegation  of  the  Clay  Festal  Association. 


PALL 

BEAEERS. 


— 

JX2 
P-l 


PALL 
BEAEERS. 


The  Family  and  Officiating  Clergyman. 
Clay  Guard,  of  Cincinnati. 

Dayton  Committee. 

The  Seventy-six,  of  Louisville. 

Citizens. 

Upon  reaching  the  head  of  Main  street,  the  military, 
masonic  fraternity,  and  the  various  associations  received 
the  body  in  open  order  and  uncovered.  The  procession 
was  then  formed  in  the  following  order  : 

GEN.  PETER  DUDLEY, 

OK    FRANKFORT, 

GRAND  MARSHAL. 
Col.  H.  C.  PINDELL  and  WILLIAM  G.  TALBOTT, 

Sl'EC.'IAT..   AIDS. 


,  fiocOioc- 

The  Military,  in  sections  of  six,  with  reversed  arms,  muf- 
fled drums,  colors  furled,  and  draped 


m  mourning. 

134 


ifcnNl  6i{|l|. 


Officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United  States. 
Committee  of  Arrangements. 


Committee  of  the  Senate  of  the   United  States,    Judge 

UNDERWOOD,  of  Kentucky;    Gen.    LEWIS    CASS,   of 

Michigan;  GOT.  HAMILTON  FISH,  of  New  York; 

Gen.  SAMUEL  HOUSTON,  of  Texas;  Governor 

JAMES  C.  JONES,  of   Tennessee;  and 

Commodore  ROBERT  F.  STOCKTON, 

of  New  Jersey. 

Committee   of    the    Clay   Festival   Association   of    New 

York;  JOSEPH  M.  PRICE,  ALFRED  G.  PECKHAM,  D. 

L.  PETTEE,  JOSIAH  P.  KNAPP,  DAVID  WEBB,  and 

NICHOLAS  CARROLL,  with  them  the  venerable 

Governor  METCALF,  of  Kentucky. 
Clay  Guard  of  Cincinnati,  consisting  of  over  one  hundred 

Young  Men. 

Dayton  Committee. 

The  Seventy-six  from  Louisville. 

The  Deputation  from  Frankfort,  with  other  Committees 

from  various  places. 
Committee  of  the  city  of  Lexington,  sent  to  receive  the  body 


6.  M. 
Masonic  Fraternity. 


PALL-BEAKERS 


B.  W.  DUDLEY, 
M.  T.  SCOTT,- 
GEO.  ROBERTSON, 
E.  WARFIELD, 
CHARLES  CARR, 
ROGER  QUARLES, 


BENJ.  GRATZ, 
D.  VERTNER, 
C  HILTON  ALLAN, 
R.  HAWES, 
GARRETT  DAVIS, 
C.  S.  MOREHEAD. 


135 


Obsequies  of 


[The  funeral  car,  \vhich  had  been  made'  under  the  direction  of  the 
citizens  of  Lexington,  was  of  excelling  taste  in  the  design,  exceedingly 
rich  in  material,  and  elegant  in  execution  ;  of  quadrangular  shape,  lined 
with  velvet  and  satin,  overhung  with  black  crape,  a  large  silver  urn  of 
classic  mould  vyion  the  top,  surmounted  with  a  massive  eagle  of  the  same 
material,  with  outstretched  pinions,  grasping  in  his  talons  a  bundle  of 
arrows,  the  whole  drapery,  as  well  as  the  netting,  covering  the  eight 
splendid  white  horses,  heavily  fringed  with  silver  bullion.  Each  horse 
was  led  by  a  black  groom,  in  the  funeral  costume  of  the  Moors.] 

Officiating  Clergyman  and  Family,  consisting  of 
THOMAS  HART  CLAY,  Wife  and  Children; 

JAMES  BROWN  CLAY  and  Wife; 
JOHN  M.  CLAY;  HENRY  CLAY,  Jr.,  now  HENRY  CLAY,  the 

eldest  son  of  the  late  Col.  CLAY; 

THOMAS  SMITH  and  Wife,  with  the  younger  orphan  children 
of  Col.  CLAY, 

[Whose  guardians  they  are,  as  well  as  close  kindred.] 

Mrs.  SUSAN  CARTER,  and  other  nieces  and  nephews  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  CLAY. 

[Infirmity  prevented  Mrs.  CLAY  from  leaving  Ashland  ] 

Reverend  Clergy  of  all  denominations. 

IVsW  6.  3D.  -Diiaiejj. 
Governor  and  Heads  of  Departments  of  the  State  of 

Kentucky. 

Committees  of  Cities,  Towns  and  Counties  of  the  State  of 
Kentucky. 


Mayor  and  Council  of  the  City  of  Lexington. 

President  and  Directors  of  Lexington  Cemetery  Company. 

Trustees  and  Faculty  of  Transylvania  University. 

Sjfal-gtoi  6.  £.  GnlY. 

Judges,  Members  of  the  Bar,  and  Officers  of  the  Fayette 
Circuit  Court. 

136 


-Ui)iM|  tfiqjj. 


Judges  of  the  Superior  and  Inferior  Courts  of  Kentucky, 

and  Officers. 
Judges  of  the  United  States  Courts, 

and  Officers. 
Members  and  ex-Members  of  the  Conress  of  the  U.  S. 


Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  in  sections  of  six. 
Sons  of  Temperance,  in  sections  of  six. 


Fire  Companies,  in  sections  of  six. 

Members  of  the   Senate  and  House    of  Representatives 

of  the  State  of  Kentucky. 

Teachers  of  Schools. 


Citizens  on  Foot,  in  sections  of  six. 

?i)>sWs  Ciifioi)  aijiel-  ^5  1{.  £.  lodfniitfei*. 
Citizens  and  Strangers  in  carriages,  two  abreast. 

W$$W$  Robert  SdMocii  JM()  }.  tf.  3l)i'o|)3i)irj. 
Citizens  and  Strangers  on  Horseback,  in  sections  of  four. 

This  section  was  very  numerous,  and  presented  an  im- 
posing array  of  equestrians,  besides  the  noblest  specimens 
of  the  celebrated  race  of  Kentuckians. 

From  Ashland  to  the  Cemetery,  every  house  was  clothed 
in  mourning.  At  nearly  every  crossing,  heavy  and  taste- 
ful draperies  were  transversely  stretched  from  corner  to 
corner  —  frequent  displays  of  the  national  colors  at  half 
mast,  and  cased  in  crape  —  the  large  court  house  and  public 
square  covered  with  a  sable  mantle  —  the  monument  erected 


of 


to  the  memory  of  WILLIAM  T.  BARKY,  in  the  square,  also 
covered  with  Jalack  cloth.  The  street,  through  which  the 
procession  passed,  was  clothed  with  black  from  end  to 
end — and  lined  with  a  dense  crowd.  Every  window  was 
filled,  and  each  roof  bore  its  burden  of  spectators.  The 
population  of  Lexington  is  some  nine  thousand,  and  when 
it  is  remembered  that  it  was  estimated  an  hundred  thou- 
sand strangers  were  there,  the  mind  can  conceive  readily 
the  sublime  spectacle  that  immense  mass,  embracing,  lit- 
erally, every  age,  sex,  condition  and  color,  presented. 
Each  male  and  all  the  children  uncovered  as  the  body 
passed,  and  every  countenance  displayed  the  deepest  sor- 
row and  sympathy.  Where  else,  in  all  the  universe,  could 
such  a  scene  be  witnessed  ?  A  whole  country  mourning 
the  loss  of  their  benefactor — a  nation's  tears  bedewing  his 
grave,  and  the  grateful  memory  of  the  republic  building 
his  immortal  monument. 

As  the  line  approached  the  cemetery,  still  other  thou- 
sands were  seen  crowding  every  slope,  hillock,  and  down 
into  the  vale  where  he  was  to  be  temporarily  entombed. 
A  gun  had  announced  the  march  of  the  procession — and 
then,  simultaneously,  the  muffled  drum — the  dirge-like 
music — the  chiming  of  the  bells,  and  continuous  discharge 
o'f  minute-guns,  during  the  hours  that  elapsed  between  the 
commencement  and  the  close  of  the  ceremonies,  smote  the 
hot  and  dusty  air,  which  breathed  everywhere,  the  heavy 
atmosphere  of  oppressed  hearts,  these  pulsating  writh  a  com- 
mon suffering  grief,  that  pervaded  the  land,  and  hung  like  a 
pall  over  the  public  mind — the  inquiry,  passing  unanswered 
from  lip  to  lip,  "  who  shall  supply  his  place — who  now  is 
our  sure  reliance,  when  the  country  he  defended  is  in 
danger  ?'' 

138 


tfcplrii  6lq|j. 


Slowly  through  the  graveled  way,  the  mourning  train 
passing  within  the  cemetery  grounds,  the  beloved  dead  was 
carried  to  his  tomb.  There  the  services  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  were  closed  by  the  rector.  "Ashes  to  ashes — 
dust  to  dust/7  and  the  hollow  sound  reverberated  with 
more  power  over  the  hearts  of  those  present  than  would 
the  loudest  thunder.  The  Masonic  Fraternity,  the  Family, 
the  Senators  and  the  New  York  Delegation,  alone  remain- 
ing near  the  bier;  the  Grand  Master,  assisted  by  the 
Grand  Lodge  of  Kentucky,  took  charge  of  the  corpse,  and 
performed  their  highest  masonic  ceremonies  in  honor  of 
the  illustrious  member  of  their  Order. 

Governor  JONES  laid  ANN  S.  STEPHENS'  wreath  of  im- 
mortelles around  the  head;  JOSEPH  M.  PEICE  placed  the 
wreath  of  oak  and  cedar,  the  offering  of  the  Clay  Festival 
Association  of  the  city  of  New  York,  over  his  breast, 
and  deposited,  at  the  same  time,  and  on  that  holy  spot, 
which  had  been  the  home  of  love,  and  truth,  and  patriotism, 
the  seal  ring  of  one  of  the  members  of  the  Committee,  and 
other  mementoes  of  his  comrades — and  then  the  coffin  was 
closed  from  mortal  sight.  By  the  generous  permission  of 
the  Grand  Lodge,  who  fully  appreciated  their  sacred  mis- 
sion, the  Committee  of  the  Clay  Festival  Association, 
with  the  Masonic  Fraternity,  bore  the  remains  of  HENRY 
CLAY  to  the  vault  prepared  for  their  reception,  and  laid 
him  beside  his  mother  and  his  kindred.  Plucking  from 
within  that  tomb,  oak  leaves,  with  a  silent  prayer  that 
their  end  might  be  like  his,  at  peace  with  GOD  and  man,  , 
and  a  vow  that  while  life  remained,  they  would  cherish 
his  memory  and  seek  to  preserve  his  immortal  principles 
— devotion  to  the  honor,  welfare  and  happiness  of  the 
country,  and  the  perpetuation  of  the  Union,  that  sad  train 

139 


Obsequies  of 


slowly  withdrew — the  iron  bound  door  closed  behind  them 
— the  mouth  of  the  tomb  was  sealed,  and  in  the  same  order 
the  marshaled  host  passed  back  their  sad  and  thoughtful 
way — 

"  Rest  thee — there  is  no  prouder  tomb." 

The  procession  had  dispersed,  but  the  gloom  remained 
visible  in  every  face,  and  the  crowd  silently  dispersed  to- 
ward their  homes.  At  sundown  the  bells  tolled,  and 
thirty-one  minute-guns  were  fired,  and  thus  were  closed,  at 
his  own  home,  the  ever-memorable  obsequies  of  the  "  First 
Citizen  of  the  Republic!" 

In  the  eloquent  language  of  the  Lexington  Observer  : 
"All  the  crowds  which  we  have  seen,  sink  into  insignifi- 
cance when  compared  to  this.  Were  it  not  that  no  dis- 
play, however  grand — that  the  collection  of  no  multitude, 
however  numerous — that  the  exhibition  of  no  sorrow,  how- 
ever deep  and  general — could  have  been  commensurate 
with  the  genius,  fame  and  services  of  the  illustrious  dead 
— we  would  say  that  the  occasion  was  worthy  of  any  man. 
Other  places  paid  the  same  honors  to  the  remains  of  our 
great  statesman,  but  it  was  felt  that  here  was  the  place 
where  he  originated  his  immortal  career,  and  that,  at  least 
in  proportion  to  our  limited  population,  should  be  the 
marks  of  respect.  And  never  did  we  have  more  cause  to 
be  proud  of  our  city,  county,  and  state. 

"  But  our  task  is  done.  The  patriot  sleeps  calmly  in 
the  '  city  of  the  dead/  but  he  lives  in  the  hearts  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  will  live  whilst  human  liberty  has  a  votary.  lie 
was  so  decided  a  partisan,  that  in  life  he  had  many  foes. 
But  now  that  death  has  closed  the  scene,  his  virtues  and 
his  power's  will  be  acknowledged  by  all.  Perhaps,  the  his- 


[,;i      jj-ef^Giqp. 

Ti^7^'/.-:. _____ 


tory  of  human  greatness  does  not  exhibit  such  a  remarka- 
ble career.  We  doubt  if  in  intellectual  conflict  he  was  ever 
foiled,  if  left  to  choose  his  own  position.  And  this  too,  as 
he  said,  commencing  with  but  a  limited  education.  Per- 
haps no  man  has  gone  through  a  stormier  political  life. 
His  friends  always  relied  implicitly  upon  him  against  the 
most  gigantic  opponents — never  did  he  disappoint  their 
confidence.  Hence,  to  the  last,  never  was  a  man  surrounded 
by  such  devoted  friends;  and  the  sad  procession  on  Satur- 
day attested  the  hold  he  had  upon  the  whole  country.  A 
child  of  the  people — leaning  alone  upon  the  prayers  of  an 
humble  but  devoted  mother,  and  the  protecting  care  of  a 
beneficent  Providence,  he  made  for  himself  a  fame  more 
enduring  than  marble,  more  precious  than  the  sordid  ad- 
vantages of  power;  placed  himself  before  the  world  as  its 
master-spirit;  died  amid  a  nation's  tears,  and  has  his  name 
embalmed  in  a  nation's  memory." 

On  Sunday,  by  appointment, — some  of  them  having  to 
leave  immediately  thereafter, — Mrs.  CLAY  received  the 
delegates  of  the  Clay  Festival  Association,  in  the  drawing- 
room,  at  Ashland.  There  were  portraits  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
CLAY;  of  their  children,  and  of  her  brother  and  father,  with 
a  very  large  original  picture  of  Gen.  WASHINGTON  and  his 
family.  Beneath  the  portrait  of  Col.  CLAY,  hung  his  sword, 
worn  in  the  fatal  field  of  Buena  Vista.  There  was  the 
massive  glass  vase,  which  had  been  presented  to  him  by 
the  people  of  Pittsburg,  and  it  was  with  water  from  that 
vase  he  had  been  baptized.  There  too  were  the  splendid 
silver  vases — the  one  presented  by  the  ladies  of  Tennessee, 
and  the  other,  and  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  vase  ever 
executed  in  this  country,  from  the  Gold  and  Siver  Artisans 
of  New  York.  Here  Mrs.  CLAY  was  presented  to  the 

141 


Obsequies  of 


delegation  by  her  son,  JAMES  B.  CLAY,  now  a  resident  of 
St.  Louis,  who  recognized  among  them  familiar  friends  of 
his  father  and  himself.  Mrs.  CLAY  was  evidently  suffer- 
ing from  great  depression,  and  this  interview  affected  her 
still  more.  She  was  surrounded  by  devoted  friends  and 
honorable  servitors  of  her  husband  from  a  far  off  Atlantic 
city,  who  had  come  there  on  the  most  mournful  duty  of 
their  lives.  They  were  afterward  shown  through  the 
house,  and  they  especially  lingered  in  his  library  and  sit- 
ing room.  In  the  former  were  countless  tokens  of  the  af- 
fection and  regard  that  had  been  showered  upon  him  by 
his  loving  countrymen  and  countrywomen.  Among  other 
things  were  canes  enough  for  an  entire  community,  embrac- 
ing every  variety  that  could  be  imagined— the  costly  and 
the  massive — :the  antique  and  curious,  and  the  grotesque. 
The  delegation  were  shown  through  the  grounds,  and  bore 
with  them  each  a  cane  from  those  which  had  been  presented 
to  the  illustrious  dead,  the  offering  and  generous  gift  of 
the  executors.  They  gathered  sprigs  of  myrtle  and  of 
laurel — plucked  some  flowers,  and  tufts  of  moss  and  sod — 
and  then  "  with  a  last  lingering  glance/'  reluctantly  re- 
turned to  Lexington.  A  portion  left  at  dawn  the  next 
morning,  while  the  senators,  who  tarried  a  few  days,  and 
those  of  the  Clay  Festival  Delegation,  who  remained,  were 
invited  to  meet  "  the  Old  Guard,  of  Kentucky,'7  at  the  hos- 
pitable and  princely  mansions  of  two  of  their  number. 

This  narrative  is  closed  with  a  synopsis  of  his  will. 
After  bestowing  all  his  personal  effects,  unconditionally, 
upon  his  wife,  LUCKETIA  CLAY,  constituting  her  executrix, 
and  Judge  THOMAS  A.  MARSHALL  and  JAMES  0.  HARBISON, 
his  executors,  devises  his  estate  among  thejnembers  of  his 
family  with  great  equity,  and  provides  for  the  gradual 


IteiKii  t'liiji 

emancipation  of  his  slaves.  Those  born  after  January, 
1850,  to  be  free — the  males  at  twenty-eight,  and  the  females 
at  twenty-five — the  last  three  years'  earnings,  previous  to 
their  manumission,  to  be  reserved  as  a  fund  for  their  ben- 
efit in  their  new  homes  in  Liberia. 

Ashland  remains  the  property  of  his  wife,  during  her 
life,  then  to  be  sold,  and  the  proceeds  disposed  of  among 
his  children. 

He  devises  to  his  friends  as  follows  : 

"  I  give  to  my  friend,  Dr.  B.  W.  DUDLEY,  the  gold  snuff- 
box, presented  to  me  by  Dr.  HUNT,  late  of  Washington 
City. 

"  I  give  to  my  friend,  HENRY  T.  DUNCAN,  my  ring,  con- 
taining a  piece  of  the  coffin  of  General  WASHINGTON. 

"  I  give  to  my  friend,  Dr.  W.  N.  MERCER,  my  snuff-box, 
inlaid  with  gold,  said  to  have  belonged  to  PETER  the 
Great,  Emperor  of  Russia." 

The  will,  with  noble  appreciation  of  the  faith  of  those 
he  intrusted  with  the  fulfillment  of  his  wishes,  provides 
that  no  security  shall  be  required  from  them. 


The  following  order  and  testimonial  of  appreciation  was 
laid  before  your  Committee. 

COMPANY  D,  WASHINGTON  GREYS. 
SPECIAL  ORDER. 

NEW  YORK,  JULY  3, 1852. 

This  company  having  been  detailed  as  the  Guard  of 
Honor  over  the  remains  of  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  the  mem- 
bers are  directed  to  assemble  at  the  armory,  THIS  DAY, 
Saturday,  at  11  o'clock  precisely,  in  full  uniform,  gray  pan- 
taloons, without  knapsacks,  and  with  white  gloves,  crape 
on  the  left  arm. 

JAMES  LITTLE, 

Commandant. 
CHAPIN,  Orderly. 

Regular  Quarterly  Meeting,  COMPANY  D,  WASHINGTON 
GREYS,  held  at  their  Armory,  13th  July,  1852. 

LEMUEL  W.  SERRELL,  moved  that  Orderly  Sergeant 
JOHN  E.  CHAPIN,  and  ex-orderly  RICHARD  P.  CLARK,  be 
appointed  to  draft  suitable  resolutions  of  thanks,  for  the 
attentions  received  by  this  company  during  their  late  visit 
to  Albany. — Carried. 

After  retiring,  the  committee  presented  the  following: 

Whereas,  Having  returned  from  the  melancholy  duty, 
which  had  fallen  to  our  lot,  of  escorting  the  remains  of 
the  late  HENRY  CLAY  to  the  seat  of  the  State  government, 
and  feeling  duly  sensible  of  the  honor  conferred  upon  us, 
and  of  the  unremitting  kindness  and  attention  which 
awaited  us  on  all  hands,  and  feeling  anxious,  as  soon  as 
possible,  to  express  the  gratitude  which  actuates  us,  there- 
fore, be  it 

144 


Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  company  are  eminently 
due,  and  are  hereby  tendered  to  the  Common  Council  of 
this  city,  and  its  Committee  of  Arrangements,  for  the 
honor  conferred  in  selecting  COMPANY  D,  for  guard  and 
escort  duty  over  the  body  of  the  late  HENRY  CLAY. 

Resolved,  That  we  tender  our  sincere  and  heart-felt 
thanks  to  the  officers,  members  and  ex-members  of  the  Al- 
bany Burgess  Corps,  for  the  unremitting  attention  paid 
to  us  by  them,  while  in  Albany. 

Resolved,  That  we  also  feel  sensibly  the  honor  conferred 
upon  us  by  Governor  HUNT,  in  reviewing  this  company, 
and  by  the  very  eloquent  and  affecting  remarks  addressed 
to  us  by  him. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  COMPANY  D  are  due  to  Col. 
FRISBIE  and  Staff,  and  the  ALBANY  REPUBLICAN  ARTILLERY, 
for  the  escort  on  our  arrival  and  departure;  and  finally, 
we  extend  the  expressions  of  our  warmest  feelings  of  re- 
membrance and  gratitude  to  the  citizens  of  Albany,  and 
to  all  with  whom  we  were  brought  in  contact,  while  there, 
for  the  universal  good  feeling  and  kindness  with  which 
we  were  treated. 

JAMES  LITTLE,  Commandant. 
LEMUEL  W.  SERRELL,  Secretary. 


FRIDAY,  JULY  9th. 


This  clay,  your  Committee  held  their  first  meeting,  after 
their  return  from  the  capitol  of  the  state,  where  they  had 
placed  the  remains  of  the  honored  dead,  in  the  keeping  of 


145 


the  corporate  authorities  of  Albany,  upon  whom  the  mourn- 
ful and  honored  duty  devolved  of  rendering  their  testimony 
of  homage  to  the  memory  and  virtues  of  the  illustrious 
deceased. 

On  motion,  the  following  resolutions  were  unanimously 
adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  the  Common  Council  of  the  city  of  New 
York  will  solemnize  the  death  of  the  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY, 
by  a  civic  and  military  procession. 

Resolved,  That  TUESDAY,  July  20th,  be  designated  as  the 
day  for  the  public  funeral  solemnities  in  honor  of  the 
memory  of  the  lamented  HENRY  CLAY. 

Resolved,  That  our  fellow-citizens  generally,  and  the  dif- 
ferent societies,  trades  and  associations,  and  Fire  Depart- 
ment of  this  city  and  adjoining  counties,  are  requested  to 
unite  in  this  testimony  of  respect  to  the  illustrious  dead; 
and  all  societies  and  associations  intending  to  co-operate, 
are  requested  to  communicate  with  the  Committee,  at  the 
chamber  of  the  Board  of  Assistant  Aldermen,  from  Wed- 
nesday, the  14th,  to  Saturday,  the  17th  inst.,  from  12  to  5 
o'clock,  p.  M.,  each  day,  in  order  to  make  the  necessary 
arrangements  to  carry  out  the  views  of  the  Common 
Council,  in  an  appropriate  manner. 

Resolved,  That  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States, 
on  this  station,  are  requested  to  co-operate  with  us  in 
making  the  necessary  arrangements,  and  that  the  Com- 
mittee on  Military  be  requested  to  communicate  with  the 
commanders  of  the  different  stations. 

Resolved,  That  no  banner,  bearing  political  devices  or  in- 
scriptions, shall  be  admitted  in  the  procession. 

146 


Resolved,  That  in  order  to  render  more  effective  the  ac- 
tion of  the  Committee,  Special  sub-committees  be  appointed 
with  power,  to  direct  and  carry  into  effect  the  duties  spe- 
cially delegated  to  them. 

The  chairman  then  announced  the  following 
SPECIAL   SUB-COMMITTEES. 

On  Military, 
Messrs.  BAEKER,  SMITH  and  TAIT. 

On  Civic  Societies  and  Associations, 
Messrs.  TWEED,  WARD  and  ANDERSON. 

On  *Fire  Department, 
Messrs.  VALENTINE,  Me  GOWN  and  BOYCE. 

On  Programme, 
Messrs.  COMPTON,  TROTTER,  WOODWARD,  WRIGHT  and  BARD. 

On  Invitations, 
Messrs.  SMITH,  BRISLEY  and  TROTTER. 

On  selecting  an  Orator, 
Messrs.  BRISLEY,  TWEED  and  BARKER. 


TUESDAY,  JULY  13. 

The  Committee  met  pursuant  to  adjournment.  Numer- 
ous communications  and  delegations  were  received  from 
civic  societies  and  associations,  expressing  a  desire  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  funeral  solemnities  in  honor  of  the  departed 
statesman. 

117 


of 


Brigadier-General  WILLIAM  HALL,  was  selected  as  the 
Grand  Marshal  of  the  day. 

The  Light  Guard,  Capt.  E.  VINCENT,  was  selected  to 
act  as  GUARD  OF  HONOR  to  the  funeral  car. 

Subsequently,  the  Committee  on  Invitation,  issued  the 
annexed  circulars  to  a  number  of  the  corporate  bodies 
and  distinguished  gentlemen  in  the  United  States,  as  well 
as  to  many  of  the  citizens  of  this  city. 

CITY  HALL, 
NEW  YORK,  JULY  14, 1852. 

DEAR  SIR  : — The  undersigned,  on  the  part  of  the  Joint 
Committee,  appointed  by  the  Common  Council  of  this 
city,  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements  for  solemnizing 
the  obsequies  of  the  late  Honorable  HENRY  CLAY,  on  the 
20th  instant,  respectfully  invite  you  to  be  present  on  that 
occasion,  and  unite  with  the  Common  Council  and  citizens 
of  New  York,  in  this  testimony  of  respect  to  the  illustrious 
deceased. 

Yours,  very  respectfully, 

WESLEY  SMITH, 
WM.  J.  BRISLEY, 
JONATHAN  TROTTER, 

Committee  on  Invitation. 

CITY  HALL, 
NEW  YORK,  JULY  14, 1852. 

The  undersigned,  on  behalf  of  the  Joint  Committee  of 
the  Common  Council  of  the  city  of  New  York,  to  make 
the  necessary  arrangements  for  solemnizing  the  obsequies 
of  the  late  Honorable  HENRY  CLAY,  on  the  20th  instant, 

14S 


iUnrtf  Ciql). 


respectfully  invite  you  to  participate  on  that  occasion,  as 
PALL-BEARER,  in  uniting1  with  the  Common  Council  and 
citizens,  in  paying  respect  to  the  illustrious  deceased. 

Yours,  very  respectfully, 

WESLEY  SMITH, 
WM.  J.  BRISLEY, 
JONATHAN  TROTTER, 

Committee  on  Invitation. 

From  the  time  of  the  announcement  that  the  obsequies 
of  the  revered  HENRY  CLAY  would  be  solemnized  in  a 
public  manner,  the  citizens,  civic  and  military  associations, 
political  societies,  officers  of  the  army  and  navy,  members 
of  the  bar.  and  in  fact  the  whole  population  seemed  to  vie 
with  each  other  who  should  perform  the  best  service,  or 
render  the  greatest  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  of 
the  man  whom  the  whole  nation,  with  one  voice,  devoutly 
lamented. 

To  which  the  following  replies  have  been  received. 

WASHINGTON,  JULY  15, 1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — I  regret  that  my  official  engagements,  at 
Washington,  will  not  allow  me  to  accept  your  invitation, 
to  be  present  at  the  "  solemnizing  the  obsequies  of  the  late 
Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  on  the  20th  instant,"  at  New  York, 
and, 

Have  the  honor  to  remain, 
Gentlemen, 

Your  ob't  serv't, 

WINFIELD  SCOTT. 

Messrs.  W.  SMITH,  \V.  J.  BUISLEY  and  J.  TROTTER,  &e.,  &o. 

149 


0bse<}t|ies  of 


ALBANY,  JULY  19, 1852. 

GENTLEMEN: — Please  accept  my  acknowledgments  for 
the  honor  you  have  done  me  in  inviting  me  to  attend  the 
obsequies  of  the  late  HENRY  CLAY,  which  are  to  be  sol- 
emnized in  your  city  to-morrow. 

I  sincerely  regret  that  my  official  engagements  do  not 
permit  me  the  melancholy  satisfaction  of  uniting  with  the 
Commpn  Council  and  citizens  of  New  York,  in  the  pro- 
posed demonstration  of  grief  for  the  loss,  and  respect  for 
the  memory,  of  the  departed  patriot. 
Very  respectfully, 

Yours,  <fec., 

WASHINGTON  HUNT. 

WESLEY  SMITH,  WM.  J.  BRISLEY,  JONA.  TROTTER,  Esq's.,  Committee. 


TROY,  N.  Y.,  JULY  19, 1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  re- 
ceipt of  your  invitation,  on  the  part  of  the  "Joint  Com- 
mittee," to  unite  with  the  Common  Council  and  citizens 
of  New  York,  in  "  solemnizing  the  obsequies  of  the  late 
Hon.  HENRY  CLAY." 

It  would  afford  me  sincere  gratification  to  participate 
with  you,  in  this  public  demonstration  of  respect  to  the 
memory  and  distinguished  services  of  the  illustrious  de- 
ceased, and  in  the  hope  that  I  might  still  be  able  to  accept 
the  invitation  with  which  you  have  honored  me,  I  have  de- 
ferred replying  to  your  communication  until  this  day. 
But  I  regret  exceedingly  to  find  that  pressing  private  en- 
gagements, as  well  as  official  duties,  will  compel  me  to 

150 


jfenfti  Cit)t|. 

•— —— —••— .^— — •—— 

forego  the  pleasure  of  being  with  you  on  an  occasion  of 
such  universal  interest. 

I  am,  gentlemen, 

With  great  respect, 
»  Your  ob'dt  servant, 

JOHN  E.  WOOL. 

Messrs.  SMITH,  BKISI.EY,  and  TROTTER,  Committee  on  Invitation. 


WASHINGTON,  JULY  16, 1852. 

GENTLEMEN — I  deeply  regret  that  my  engagements 
here  will  deprive  me  of  the  power  of  uniting  with  you  on 
the  20th  inst.,  in  solemnizing  the  obsequies  of  the  late 
Hon.  HENRY  CLAY. 

In  common  with  all  the  citizens  of  this  republic,  I  enter- 
tain the  highest  respect  and  veneration  for  the  memory 
of  the  illustrious  deceased.  His  character  as  a  statesman 
and  patriot  now  forms  a  part  of  the  rich  inheritance  of 
his  country;  and  his  great  example  will  continue,  through 
all  future  time,  to  influence  the  character  of  posterity,  and 
liberalize  and  nationalize  the  hearts  and  minds  of  future 
American  statesmen. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  gentlemen, 

Very  respectfully, 
Your  ob'dt  serv't, 

JAS.  SHIELDS. 

Mos>r.=.  WESLEY  SMITH,  WM.  J.  BRISLEY,  and  JONATHAN  TROTTER, 

Committee  on  Invitation. 
151 


WASHINGTON,  15TH  JULY,  1852. 


GENTLEMEN  : — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the 
receipt  of  your  invitation,  to  unite  with  the  Common 
Council  and  citizens  of  New  York,  on  the  20th  inst.,  in 
solemnizing  the  obsequies  of  the  late  Honorable  HENRY 
CLAY. 

It  would  afford  me  a  mournful  pleasure  to  join  in  this 
public  demonstration  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  illus- 
trious dead;  but  I  find  that  my  public  duties  here,  forbid 
that  I  should  consult  my  inclination  by  accepting  your 
invitation. 

I  am,  gentlemen,  very  respectfully, 

Your  ob'dt  servant, 

N.  K.  HALL. 

To  WESLEY  SMITH,  WM.  J.  BRISLEY, and  JONA.  TROTTER,  Esq's.,  Committee. 


WASHINGTON,  JULY  16, 1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — I  received  yesterday  the  invitation  with 
which,  as  the  Joint  Committee  of  the  Common  Council  of 
the  city  of  New  York,  you  have  honored  me,  to  be  present 
at  the  solemnization  of  the  obsequies  of  the  late  Honorable 
HENRY  CLAY,  on  the  20th  instant.  The  high  personal  ad- 
miration which  I  have  always  entertained  for  the  lofty 
patriotism,  elevated  character,  and  brilliant  genius  of  Mr. 
CLAY,  would  prompt  me  to  avail  myself  of  every  opportu- 
nity of  testifying  my  reverence  for  his  memory. 

It  is  therefore,  with  unfeigned  regret,  that  I  feel  com- 
pelled, by  the  pressure  of  my  duties  here,  to  refrain  from 
uniting  with  the  Common  Council  and  citizens  of  New 


fy  ij-t^nf  tJlqij.   f 

VimiTi,iL 


York  in  their  most  appropriate  testimony  of  respect  to 
the  illustrious  deceased,  whose  loss  our  whole  country  so 
deeply  deplores. 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  ob't  servant, 

J.  A.  BAYARD. 

Messrs.  WESLEY  SMITH,  WILLIAM  J.  BRISLEY,  and  JONATHAN  TROTTER, 

Committee  on  Invitation. 


PORTCHESTER,  19TH  JULY,  1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — I  have  just  received  your  favor  of  the 
14th  inst.,  inviting  me  to  unite  with  the  Common  Council 
and  citizens  of  New  York,  in  solemnizing  the  obsequies  of 
the  late  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  and  I  regret  that  it  will  not 
be  possible  for  me  to  be  present. 

The  great  talents  of  our  late  eminent  fellow-citizen;  his 
distinction  as  an  orator  and  a  statesman,  and  the  high  rank 
which  he  has  always  held  among  the  prominent  men  of  his 
day,  give  to  every  man,  of  true  American  feeling,  a  deep  in- 
terest in  the  perpetuation  of  his  fame  as  a  part  of  the 
property  of  the  country.  With  this  feeling  of  respect  for 
the  departed  statesman,  it  is  a  source  of  sincere  regret  to 
me  that  I  cannot  unite  with  the  Common  Council  and  cit- 
izens of  New  York,  in  paying  a  last  tribute  to  his  memory. 

I  am,  gentlemen, 

Very  respectfully. 

Your  ob't  servant, 

JOHN  A.  DIX. 


Messrs.  WESLEY  SMITH,  WM.  J.  BBISLEY,  and  Jan.  TROTTER,  Committee. 

153 


CITY  HALL, 
PHILADELPHIA,  JULY  14, 1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — I  was  directed  by  the  Committee  of 
Councils  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  appointed  to  receive 
the  remains  of  the  late  HENRY  CLAY,  to  express  to  you 
their  acknowledgments  for  your  polite  invitation  to  visit 
your  city  on  the  late  mournful  occasion,  and  to  thank  you 
for  the  very  kind  and  hospitable  manner  in  which  they 
were  treated  whilst  there. 

With  great  respect, 
JOHN  PRICE  WETHERILL, 

Chairman. 

Alderman  CORNELL,  Esq.,  and  Associates  of  Board  of  Aldermen,  N.  Y. 


COUNCIL  CHAMBER, 

JULY  IT,  1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — "We  are  directed  by  the  Councils  of  Phil- 
adelphia, in  forwarding  you  the  inclosed  resolution,  to  ex- 
press to  you  their  thanks  for  your  very  kind  and  polite  in- 
vitation. Accept,  on  behalf  of  ourselves  and  our  colleagues, 
the  assurance  of  our  high  respect  and  esteem. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

THOMAS  SNOWDEN, 

President  of  Common  Council. 
WILLIAM  MORRIS,  President  of  Select  Council. 

Messrs.  WESLEY  SMITH,  Wai.  J.  BRISLEY,  JON.  TROTTER,  Com.  on  Invitation. 

COUNCIL  CHAMBER, 

JULY  17, 1852. 

Resolved,  That  the  invitation  extended  by  the  Committee 
of  Councils  of  New  York  to  the  Mayor  and  members  of 

154 


I  •    itjijni   t  I;M|. 

W^ 


Councils  of  this  city,  to  visit  that  city,  on  Tuesday  next, 
to  participate  in  the  funeral  ceremonies,  to  be  observed 
there  in  commemoration  of  the  death  of  HENRY  CLAY,  be 
accepted,  and  that  the  Presidents  of  Councils  be  directed 
to  express  our  appreciation  of  the  kindness  thus  offered. 

[Extract  from  Minutes  of  Councils.] 

Attest,  CRAIG  BIDDLE, 

Clerk  of  Common  Council. 

EDMUND  WILCOX,  Clerk  of  Select  Council. 


MAYOR'S  OFFICE, 
BROOKLYN,  JULY  19, 1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — I  have  the  pleasure  to  acknowledge  the 
receipt  of  your  note  of  the  14th  inst.,  inviting  the  Common 
Council  of  Brooklyn  to  unite  with  the  Common  Council 
and  citizens  of  New  York,  in  solemnizing  the  obsequies  of 
the  late  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  deceased.  The  Common 
Council  have  unanimously  accepted  your  invitation,  but 
owing  to  arrangements  having  been  made  for  a  discourse 
to  be  delivered  by  the  Rev.  Doctor  Cox,  on  the  20th  inst., 
it  may  not  be  possible  for  them  to  be  present  with  you. 
Very  respectfully,  yours, 

CONKLIN  BRUSH,  Mayor. 

To  Messrs.  WESLEY  SMITH,  WM.  J.  BRISLEY,  and  JON.  TROTTER,  Committee. 


TROY,  JULY  17, 1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — By  order  of  the  Common  Council  of  this 
city,  I  reply  to  your  invitation  to  us  to  attend,  on  the  20th 


155 


inst.,  the  solemnization  of  the  obsequies  of  HENRY  CLAY, 
which  invitation,  our  Board  has,  by  resolution,  accepted. 

I  regret  to  be  obliged  to  say,  that  before  receiving  (yes- 
terday) your  note  of  invitation,  I  had  made  such  business 
arrangements  for  Tuesday  and  "Wednesday  next,  as  render 
it  utterly  impossible  for  me  to  be  present  with  you,  to  do 
honor  to  the  memory  of  a  man  whom,  living,  I  so  highly 
regarded. 

Very  respectfully,  yours, 

GEO.  GOULD, 

Mayor  of  Troy. 

Messrs.  WESLEY  SMITH,  WM.  J.  BRISLEY,  JON.  TKOTTER,  Committee. 


HARTFORD,  JULY  17, 1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — Your  polite  note  of  invitation,  to  the 
Mayor  and  Council,  "  to  be  present  and  unite  with  citizens 
of  New  York  in  solemnizing  the  obsequies  of  the  late  Hon. 
HENRY  CLAY,"  was  received  on  the  16th  inst. 

It  will  be  a  mournful  pleasure  to  join  in  the  ceremonies 
in  honor  to  the  memory  of  one  of  the  greatest  patriots  and 
statesmen  of  the  age. 

A  delegation  of  the  Council  will  be  in  attendance  on  the 
20th  iust, 

Yours,  respectfully, 

EBENEZER  FLOWER,  Mayor. 

Mo.<srs.  WESLEY  SMITH,  WM.  J.  BRISLEY,  Jox.  TROTTER,  Com.  on  Invitation. 

156 


NEW  HAVEN,  JULY  17, 1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — I  have  received  your  favor  of  the  14th, 
in  behalf  of  the  Joint  Committee  of  the  Common  Council 
of  the  city  of  New  York,  inviting  the  Mayor  and  Common 
Council  of  the  city  of  New  Haven  to  unite  with  you  in 
solemnizing  the  obsequies  of  the  late  HENRY  CLAY,  on  the 
20th  inst. 

It  would  afford  me  a  mournful  pleasure  to  pay  that  last 
tribute  of  respect  to  the  illustrious  statesman  and  patriot, 
but  my  engagements  will  not  allow  me  to  be  present. 

I  will  communicate  your  courteous  invitation  to  the 
Common  Council,  and  hope  some  of  them  will  be  able  to 
accept. 

Please,  gentlemen,  accept  for  yourselves,  and  the  Com- 
mon Council  whom  you  represent,  my  thanks,  in  behalf  of 
the  Common  Council  of  New  Haven,  for  your  friendly 
courtesy,  and  assurances  of  my  high  personal  consideration. 

With  great  respect, 

I  am  truly  yours, 

A.  N.  SKINNER, 
Mayor  of  the  city  of  New  Haven. 

Messrs.  WESLEY  SMITH,  WM.  J.  BRISLEY,  J.\o.  TROTTER,  Committee. 


OFFICE  OF  THE  CLERK  OF  THE  COMMON'COUNCIL, 
HUDSON,  JULY  17,  1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — At  a  meeting  of  the  Common  Council  of 
the  city  of  Hudson,  held  this  evening,  the  Mayor  having 
presented  and  read  your  invitation,  to  attend  the  funeral 
solemnities  in  testimony  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the 

157 


Hon.  HENEY  CLAY,  to  take  place  in  your  city  on  the  20th 
inst.,  it  was  unanimously  resolved  to  accept  the  same. 

I  am  requested  to  say,  that  in  accordance  with  said  reso- 
lution, the  Mayor  and  Council  of  our  city  will  be  in  attend- 
ance at  the  Jlstor  House,  on  Tuesday  morning  next,  at 
which  place  you  can  communicate  with  them,  and  assign 
to  them  such  place  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  day  as  the 
Committee  on  Invitation,  or  of  Arrangements  may  think 
proper. 

Very  respectfully,  yours, 

WILLIAM  BRYAN, 

Clerk  of  Common  Council. 

To  WESLEY  SMITH,  WM.  J  .  BRISLEY,  JON.  TROTTER,  Committee  on  Invitation. 


WASHINGTON  HEIGHTS,  JULY  16, 1852. 
GENTLEMEN  : — I  received  your  note  last  evening,  an- 
nouncing my  selection  to  deliver  a  eulogy  on  the  life  and 
character  of  Mr.   CLAY,  on  the  20th  inst.     Although  I 
could  have  desired  some  longer  time  for  preparation  on  so 
momentous  an  occasion,  I  will^  however,  essay  the  attempt. 
It  will  at  least  be  an  honor  to  fail  on  so  glorious  a  theme. 
With  great  respect, 

Your  obed't  servant, 

N.  BOWDITCH  BLUNT. 

Hon.  WM.  J.  BRISLEY,  WM.  M.  TWEED,  ISAAC  O.  BARKER,  Committee. 


141  HENRY  STREET, 
NEW  YORK,  JULY  19,  1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  re- 
ceipt of  your  letter  of  the  12th  inst.,  and  the  information 
that  the  Special  Committee  of  the  Common  Council,  to 

158 


make  arrangements  for  the  obsequies  of  the  late  Hon. 
HENRY  CLAY,  have  selected  me  to  offer  a  prayer  prior  to 
the  delivery  of  the  oration  which  is  to  be  pronounced  on 
the  occasion. 

It  will  be  highly  gratifying  to  me  to  unite  with  the  au- 
thorities and  with  our  fellow-citizens,  in  this  proposed 
tribute  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  our  illustrious  patriot, 
and  to  perform  the  service  requested  from  me  on  that  oc- 
casion. 

Permit  me  to  add,  that  this  reply  to  the  invitation  would 
have  been  earlier,  but  for  my  absence  from  home  when 
your  letter  was  received,  and  it  has  but  now  come  to  my 
hands. 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  ob'dt  servant, 

JOHN  M.  KREBS. 

Messrs.  WM.  J.  BRISLEY,  WM.  M.  TWEED,  and  ISAAC  O.  BARKER,  Committee. 


239  BROADWAY,  13TH  JULY,  1852. 

DEAR  SIR  : — Your  favor,  informing  me  of  my  appoint- 
ment as  GRAND  MARSHAL  on  the  occasion  of  the  obsequies 
of  the  late  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  is  received.  I  feel  the 
honor  conferred  on  me  by  your  choice,  and  accept  the  posi- 
tion. I  shall  be  pleased  to  meet  the  Committee  as  soon  as 
possible,  as  there  is  but  a  short  time  to  complete  the  de- 
tail of  the  necessary  arrangements. 

I  am,  very  respectfully, 

Yours, 

WM.  HALL. 

JOHN  II.  CHAMBERS,  Esq. 


Obsequies  of 

ASTOR  HOUSE, 
NEW  YORK,  JULY  15, 1852. 

SIR  : — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
your  note  of  the  15th  inst.,  apprising  me  that  the  Commit- 
tee, appointed  by  the  Common  Council,  have  selected  the 
LIGHT  GUARD  to  act  as  Guard  of  Honor  in  the  obsequies 
to  be  observed  in  honor  of  the  late  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY. 

I  pray  you  will  convey  my  acceptance  to  the  Committee, 
and  likewise  to  assure  them  of  my  high  appreciation  of  the 
compliment  they  have  conferred  upon  my  command. 

I  am,  very  respectfully, 

Your  ob'dt  servant, 

ED.  VINCENT, 
Commanding  Light  Guard. 

JOHN  H.  CHAMBERS,  Esq. 


NEW  YORK,  JULY  17, 1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — I  had  this  day  the  honor  of  receiving, 
through  you,  an  invitation  from  the  Joint  Committee,  to 
unite,  as  PALL-BEARER,  with  the  Common  Council  and  citi- 
zens, in  paying  respect  to  the  illustrious  deceased. 

In  accepting  this  invitation,  allow  me,  gentlemen,  to  ex- 
press my  unfeigned  acknowledgments  for  the  distinguished 
position  your  Committee  have  been  pleased  to  assign  me  in 
the  solemnities  of  that  occasion;  and  at  the  same  time  to 
assure  them  of  the  consolation  they  have  afforded  to  the 
countless  friends  of  the  deceased  by  their  judicious  and 

very  liberal  arrangements.     The  tears  of  a  grateful  people 

in 


fteoi'jj  Clqj}. 


may  well  and  deservedly  be  shed  over  the  remains  of  a 
statesman  so  eminently  endowed — whose  services  have 
been  performed  without  fear  and  without  reproach — and 
whose  long  life  has  been  spent  in  an  untiring  devotion  to 
the  interests  of  his  country  and  the  liberties  of  mankind. 

I  have  the  honor,  to  be,  gentlemen, 

Faithfully  and  truly,  your  friend, 

A.  R.  LAWRENCE. 

Aldermen  WESLEY  SMITH,  WM.  J.  BRISLEY,  JON.  TROTTEB,  Committee. 


NEW  YORK,  JULY  20, 1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — I  returned  to  the  city  this  morning,  and 
have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  your  invitation  to  attend 
as  a  PALL-BEARER,  and  join  with  the  Common  Council  and 
our  fellow-citizens,  in  paying  the  last  tribute  of  respect  to 
the  late  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY.  I  beg  to  assure  you  that  I 
esteem  your  invitation  a  distinguished  compliment,  and 
will  present  myself  to  your  Committee  at  the  appointed 
time. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

With  great  respect, 

Yours,  &c.,  &c., 

J.  PHILLIPS  PHCENIX. 

Hon.  WKST.KY  SMITH,  WM.  J,  BRISLEY,  JON.  TROTTER,  Com.  on  Invitation. 


NEW  YORK,  JULY  16, 1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — The  honor  conferred  on  me  by  you.  to  of- 
ficiate as  a  PALL-BEARER,  in  the  funeral  procession  of  the 

11  161 


0bsec)i|ie3  of 


late  Hon.   HENRY   CLAY,   is  accepted  with  melancholy 
pleasure. 

I  am,  gentlemen, 

With  sincere  regard, 

Yours,  &c.,  &c., 

G.  H.  STRIKER. 

WESLEY  SMITH.  WM.  J.  BRISLEY  and  JON.  TROTTER,  Esq'rs.,  Committee. 


NEW  YORK,  JULY  17, 1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — I  very  much  regret  that,  owing  to  my  ar- 
rangements to  be  absent  from  the  city  on  the  20th,  it  will 
not  be  in  my  power  to  accept  your  esteemed  invitation  to 
attend  on  the  solemnization  of  the  obsequies  of  HENRY 
CLAY,  deceased,  whose  memory  so  well  deserves  the  respect 
of  the  nation  at  large.  I  beg  of  you  to  excuse  my  neces- 
sary absence  on  the  occasion,  and  believe  me  to  remain, 

Yours,  most  truly, 

M.  ULSHOEFFER. 

Messrs.  WESLEY  SMITH,  WM.  J.  BRISLEY,  Jo.\.  TROTTER,  Committee. 


FORT  WASHINGTON,  JULY  16, 1852. 
GENTLEMEN  : —I  have  your  invitation  to  participate  as 
PALL-BEARER,  on  the  occasion  of  solemnizing  the  obsequies 
of  the  late  Honorable  HENRY  CLAY.  I  regret  the  event 
that  has  thrown  the  nation  into  mourning.  I  will  take 
part,  on  the  20th  instant,  in  paying  respect  to  the  illustri- 
ous deceased. 

Respectfully,  gentlemen, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

THOS.  O'CONOR. 


Aldermen  WESLEY  SMITH,  WM.  J.  BRISLEY,  JON.  TROTTER,  Committee. 

162 


C  I    .  (i 


NEW  YOEK,  JULY  19,  1852. 
GENTLEMEN  : — I  have  received  the  invitation  with  which 
you  have  favored  me,  to  attend  as  a  PALL-BEARER,  in  sol- 
emnizing the  obsequies  of  the  late  HENRY  CLAY,  and  ac- 
cept h    same. 

I  am,  very  respectfully, 
Yours, 

WM.  B.  ASTOR. 

WESLEY  SMITH,  WM.  J.  BRISLEY, 'Jos.  TROTTER,  Esq'rs.,  Committee. 


FRANKLIN  SQUARE,  JULY  17, 1852. 
GENTLEMEN  :— I  beg  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your 
kind  invitation  of  the  13th  inst.,  to  assist  as  PALL-BEARER 
in  solemnizing  the  obsequies  of  the  late  Honorable  HENRY 
CLAY,  on  the  20th  inst.,  and  to  say,  that  I  thankfully  ac- 
cept the  kime. 

I  remain,  gentlemen, 

Yours,  respectfully, 

JAMES  HARPER. 

Messrs.  WESLEY  SMITH,  WM.  J.  BEISLEY,  JON.  TROTTER,  Com.  on  Invitation, 


No.  22  BREVOORT  PLACE. 

GENTLEMEN  :— I  have  just  received  your  invitation  to 
act  as  PALL-BEARER,  on  the  20th  inst.,  in  paying  respect  to 
the  illustrious  deceased,  the  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY. 
With  great  respect, 

I  have  the  honor  to  be, 
Yours,  truly, 

W.  N.  BLAKEMAN, 

Messrs.  WESLEY  SMITH,  WM.  J.  BRTSLEY,  JON.  TROTTER,  Committee. 

163 


Obsequies  of 


67  WALL  STREET,  JULY  19, 1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — Your  note  of  the  13th,  inviting  me  as 
PALL-BEAEER,  in  solemnizing  the  obsequies  of  the  late 
Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  owing  to  my  absence  from  the  city, 
did  not  reach  me  until  Sunday  evening.  This  is  my  apol- 
ogy for  not  having  sooner  answered  your  invitation. 

In  case  you  have  not  filled  the  place  designed  for  me,  I 
accept  your  kind  invitation  to  participate  in  the  mournful 
tribute  of  respect  to  the  departed  statesman.  I  will  be  in 
attendance. 

Yours,  respectfully, 

ROBT.  H.  MORRIS. 

Messrs.  WESLEY  SMITH,  WM.  J.  BRISLEY,  JON.  TROTTER,  Committee. 


GEAND  LODGE  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

OF  THE  ANCIENT  AND  HONORABLE  FRATERNITY  OF  FREE 

AND  ACCEPTED  MASONS. 

The  Grand  Lodge  was  specially  convened  by  the  M.  W. 
Grand  Master,  for  the  purpose  of  adopting  suitable  mea- 
sures for  rendering  a  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  of 
our  late  illustrious  brother,  the  Hon.  and  M.  W.  HENRY 
CLAY.  The  Grand  Lodge  was  opened  in  due  form. 

Rt.  W.  JOSEPH  D.  EVANS,  Deputy  Grand  Master,  presid- 
ing, after  stating  the  object  of  the  meeting,  in  a  few 
eloquent  and  feeling  remarks,  delivered  the  following  ad- 
dress; 

BRETHREN  : — We  have  met  in  sadness !  The  principal 
object  of  this  call  for  a  special  meeting  of  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  the  State  of  New  York,  is  to  consider  what 
course  we  ought  to  pursue  in  giving  honor  to  the  memory 

164 


of  our  late  illustrious  brother,  the  Honorable,  the  Most 
Worshipful  HENRY  CLAY,  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
men  and  finished  orators  the  world  ever  knew. 

We  are  called  upon  to  mourn  the  loss  of  a  great  man,  a 
finished  gentleman,  a  beloved  brother.  We  but  sympa- 
thize with  the  whole  world  while  deploring  the  death  of 
HENRY  CLAY.  The  magnitude  and  efficiency  of  his  intel- 
lectual powers  were  not  confined  to  the  narrow  limits  of 
the  Western  Hemisphere;  far,  far  over  seas,  and  over  land, 
extending  to  every  clime,  penetrating  every  country,  city, 
town  and  hamlet,  the  power  of  his  mighty  intellect,  and  the 
benevolence  of  his  magnanimous  heart,  will  leave  their  in- 
fluence so  long  as  there  is  a  responsive  heart  to  beat  a 
consonant  note  for  national  freedom  and  universal  love. 

As  a  statesman,  he  has  a  place  upon  one  of  the  highest 
pinnacles  of"  Freedom's  Temple."  His  nobleness  of  charac- 
ter has  been  the  admiration  of  every  man.  His  boldness  in 
the  cause  he  deemed  just  amazed  his  friends  and  astounded 
his  opponents,  and  gave  efficiency  to  his  efforts. 

As  an  orator  he  was  surpassed  by  none,  upon  whatever 
rostrum  he  was  placed,  whether  in  the  senate  chamber,  at 
the  bar,  or  before  the  people;  he  held  all  who  heard  him, 
spell-bound  by  the  rich  intonations  of  his  voice.  His 
graceful  attitude,  his  faultless  gestures,  his  illumined  coun- 
tenance, and  above  all,  his  perfect  rhetoric;  no  figure  out 
of  place,  no  imaginative  thought  but  defined  its  aptitude 
without  an  explanation.  Never,  while  indulging  in  those 
lofty  flights  of  intellectual  inspiration,  did  he  collapse  his 
wings  and  fall  fluttering  to  the  level  of  a  common  mind; 
always  maintaining  his  position,  he  soared  even  higher  and 
played  with  "  fancy's  gems,"  and  "  stooped  to  touch  the 
loftiest  thought." 

165 


l!)bse(ji|ies  of 


As  a  Mason,  he  stood  among  us  as  a  high  and  honorable 
brother — a  Mason,  good  and  true.  No  one  among  us  could 
possess  his  heart  and  be  otherwise.  It  is  in  this  capacity 
he  has  so  entwined  himself  around  the  Mason's  heart.  As 
a  man  and  a  statesman  he  commands  our  admiration.  As 
a  philanthropist  and  Mason  he  insures  our  veneration  and 
love. 

Initiated  into  the  Order  at  twenty-two  years  of  age,  he 
continued  an  active  and  zealous  Mason,  and  was  elevated 
to  the  high  position  of  Grand  Master  over  the  Ancient 
Free  and  Accepted  Masons  of  Kentucky;  since  then  he 
has  given  frequent  instances  of  his  firm  attachment  to  the 
institution.  He  was  not  only  an  honorary  member  of  one 
of  the  Lodges  under  this  jurisdiction,  but  there  are  mem- 
bers of  the  craft,  now  present,  who  have  in  their  possession 
evidences  of  his  fondness  for  Masonry. 

It  is  but  a  few  years  since,  while  on  a  visit  to  this  city, 
he  expressed  a  wish  to  see  the  BIBLE*  on  which  the  great 
WASHINGTON  took  the  oath  of  office  as  President  of  the 
United  States;  that  wish  was  gratified,  under  due  and 
appropriate  ceremonies.  Although  these  manifestations  of 
his  veneration  for  the  Order  may  be  brought  down  to  a 
very  recent  date,  yet  it  could  not  be  expected,  in  the  nature 
of  things,  that  he  would  continue  to  be  what  we  term  an 
active  member  of  a  Lodge. 

The  multiplicity  of  his  engagements,  public  and  private, 
which  must  necessarily  have  been  heavy,  forbade  it.  We 
were  nevertheless  bound  to  him,  and  he  to  us,  by  the  Mystic 
Tie,  and  shall  ever  revere  and  cherish  his  name  as  one  of 
the  brightest  ornaments  of  our  Order,  while  there  is  a  link 
of  that  chain  remaining,  which  binds  the  brotherhood  to- 

*  The  property  of  St.  Johns'  Lodge,  No.  1,  of  this  city,  of  which  HENRY  CJ.AY  . 
was  an  honorary  member. 

166 


- 


gether  with  a  sincere  affection.  And  then  too,  he  was  an 
old  man — this  enunciation  is  startling.  HENRY  CLAY 
old!  Could  we  realize  the  fact! — the  silver  cord  was 
loosening,  yet  we  saw  no  wavering  of  mind,  no  declension 
of  intellectual  vigor;  but  elastic,  clear  and  firm  to  the  last, 
the  Godlike  spirit  struggled  to  sustain  the  frail,  crumbling 
tenement  which  inclosed  it.  It  is  true  he  was  beyond  us 
in  years,  yet  he  seemed  to  grow  with  our  growth,  and  to 
feel  as  we  felt,  so  that  we  could  not  perceive  that  his 
majestic  frame  gave  evidence  of  declining  years. 

Then,  in  speaking  of  him,  we  would  call  him  Henry 
CLAY — Harry  of  the  West — Mill  Boy.  These  familiar  ex- 
pressions indicate  a  companionship  which  bring  others 
upon  a  level  with  ourselves,  and  are  used  toward  those 
who  are  younger,  or  of  our  own  age,  consequently  we 
schooled  ourselves  to  look  upon  him  as  one  of  us.  Alas  it 
is  true,  he  was  physically  an  old  man — he  was  born  in  the 
midst  of  our  revolutionary  struggle,  rocked  in  its  cradle, 
and  nurtured  into  manhood  by  the  Goddess  of  Liberty. 
He  was  a  brilliant  link  which  bound  the  present  genera- 
tion to  the  birth  of  our  National  Independence. 

He  has  gone  !  The  crumbling  tenement  has  fallen — the 
spirit  is  released.  The  voice  which  aroused  a  "nation  is 
hushed  in  death.  His  manly  form  lies  mouldering  in  the 
silent  tomb;  but  the  soul,  the  immortal  soul,  has  taken  its 
everlasting  flight  and  returned  to  the  GOD  who  gave  it, 
there  to  possess  its  beatific  enjoyments.  We  have  but 
his  memory  left.  It  shall  flourish — fresh  and  perennial — 
its  home,  the  heart  of  every  true  Mason. 

At  the  close  of  the  address,  M.  W.  WM.  H.  MILXOR,  Esq., 
P.  G.  M.,  offered  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions, 
which  were  unanimously  adopted  : 


Whereas,  It  has  pleased  the  Supreme  Architect,  to  call 
from  his  earthly  labors,  our  illustrious  brother  HENRY 
CLAY,  in  a  ripe  old  age,  full  of  honors,  and  with  mind  un- 
shaken, it  is  meet  and  proper,  that  we,  his  brethren,  should 
render  to  his  memory  the  tribute  of  our  love.  We  leave  to 
others,  who,  laying  aside  all  party  feeling,  and  forgetting 
all  sectional  difficulties,  are  clustering  around  his  bier,  to 
eulogize  him  as  a  statesman,  wise  and  enlightened,  a  pa- 
triot, pure  and  incorruptible.  We  would,  in  humble  sub- 
mission to  the  Divine  will,  approach  as  Masons,  and  cast  a 
chaplet  upon  his  tomb,  a  tribute  to  his  many  virtues,  as 
a  brother  of  the  Mystic  Tie. 

Distinguished  for  truthfulness  of  character  which  de- 
spised petty  intrigue  and  deceit,  for  gentleness  of  deport- 
ment, which  won  the  love  of  high  and  low — for  charity  of 
heart,  which  embraced  all  within  its  circle, — he  lived  a  pure 
minded  and  consistent  Mason,  and  leaves  us  a  bright  ex- 
ample of  what  a  true  Mason  should  be. 

Resolved,  That  in  fulfillment  of  these  views,  and  as  an  ex- 
pression of  the  regard  which  this  Grand  Lodge  feels  for 
our  deceased  brother,  the  Lodges  within  this  jurisdiction 
be  clothed  in  the  emblems  of  mourning  for  ninety  days. 

Resolved,  That  we  sympathize  with  the  aged  widow  and 
family  of  our  deceased  brother,  and  trust  that  that  strength, 
which  cometh  only  from  above,  will  be  vouchsafed  them. 

Resolved,  That  a  carefully  engrossed  copy  of  the  address 
of  the  R.  W.  Deputy  Grand  Master,  together  with  the  pre- 
amble and  resolutions,  be  sent  to  the  family  of  our  late 
brother  HENRY  CLAY. 

At  a  subsequent  meeting  of  the  Grand  Lodge,  a  commu- 
nication was  received  from  the  Committee  on  Invitation, 
soliciting  the  Masonic  fraternity  to  unite  with  the  Com- 


if  en  IT  jj  Ciqlj. 


mon  Council  and  the  citizens  of  New  York  iii  solemnizing 
tlie  obsequies  of  the  illustrious  deceased.  Whereupon  the 
following  resolutions  were  adopted: 

Resolved,  That  this  Grand  Lodge  accept  the  invitation 
of  the  Committee  of  the  Common  Council,  and  will  cor- 
dially participate  in  the  obsequies  on  the  20th  inst.,  in 
testimony  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  our  distinguished 
brother  HENRY  CLAY,  and  that  the  R.  W.  Grand  Secreta- 
ry be  directed  to  communicate  the  same  to  the  Committee 
of  Arrangements  of  the  Common  Council. 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  ten  be  appointed,  with 
power,  to  make  every  necessary  arrangement  for  carrying 
the  foregoing  resolution  into  effect. 

The  Grand  Lodge  again  assembled  on  the  20th,  at  one 
o'clock,  when  the  procession  was  formed,  in  Masonic  order, 
under  direction  of  the  Grand  Marshal,  R.  W.  WM.  H. 
UNDERBILL,  and  his  aids.  The  Grand  officers  appeared 
in  full  regalia,  enshrouded  with  the  emblems  of  mourning; 
the  Officers  of  Lodges  with  their  rich  regalia  and  jewels, 
and  the  brethren  clothed  with  white  aprons  and  gloves; 
the  whole  presenting  an  imposing  and  beautiful  appear- 
ance. The  procession  then  moved,  preceded  by  the 
Grand  Lodge  banner,  which  was  heavily  draped  in  mourn- 
ing, and  a  very  full  and  efficient  band  of  music,  to  the  posi- 
tion assigned  them  in  the  line,  at  the  head  of  the  civic 
bodies,  and  after  passing  through  the  whole  route,  return- 
ed to  the  Lodge  room,  when  the  Grand  Lodge  was  closed 
in  due  form. 

JOSEPH  D.  EVANS, 
Deputy  Grand  Master. 

JAMES  W.  POWELL,  M.  D., 

Grand  Secretary. 


(9bse()t|<es  of 


NEW  YOHK  STATE  SOCIETY  OF  CINCINNATI. 

GENTLEMEN  : — The  Cincinnati  Society  accepts  your  in- 
vitation to  be  present  and  unite  with  the  Common  Council 
and  citizens  of  New  York,  in  solemnizing  the  obsequies  of 
the  late  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  and  I  inclose  you  the  order 
for  assembling  the  members  of  the  Society  for  the  above 
purpose,  which  I  have  issued  as  their  president. 

I  am,  gentlemen, 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  ob't  servant, 

ANTHONY  LAMB. 

Messrs.  WESLEY  SMITH,  WILLIAM  J.  BRISLEY,  JON.  TKOTTER. 

GENERAL  ORDER,  NEW  YORK  STATE  SOCIETY  OF  CINCIN- 
NATI.— The  Committee  appointed  by  the  Honorable  the 
Common  Council  of  this  city,  to  make  arrangements  for 
solemnizing  the  obsequies  of  the  late  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY, 
on  the  20th  inst.,  have  invited  our  Society  to  be  present  on 
that  occasion,  to  unite  with  the  Common  Council  and  cit- 
izens of  New  York  in  this  testimony  of  respect  to  the 
illustrious  dead. 

And,  as  it  is  our  duty,  as  descendants  of  the  patriots  of 
the  Revolution,  to  testify  our  respect  for  the  memory  of 
this  illustrious  statesman,  who  has  rendered  such  important 
services  to  the  nation;  therefore, 

The  members  of  the  Society  will  assemble  at  the  City 
Hall,  on  Tuesday,  the  20th  inst.,  at  12  o'clock,  with  the 
usual  badge  of  mourning,  for  the  aforesaid  purpose. 

Gen.  ANTHONY  LAMB, 

President. 
EDWARD  P.  MARCELLIN,  Secretary. 

170 


IttJiM't)    t>li}l). 


NEW   YORK  HISTORICAL    SOCIETY. 
MONTHLY    MEETING. 

The  Hon.  LUTHER  BRADISH,  President,  in  the  chair. 

Hon.  J.  W.  BEEKMAN,  in  some  brief  and  touching  re- 
marks, brought  to  the  notice  of  the  Society  the  death  of 
the  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  an  honorary  member  of  this  Soci- 
ety, and  moved  the  appointment  of  a  Committee  to  take 
suitable  measures  for  testifying  the  sense  of  the  members 
of  the  Society  in  regard  to  that  melancholy  event.  The 
Chair  appointed  the  following  gentlemen  as  such  commit- 
tee: Hon.  JAMES  W.  BEEKMAN,  CHARLES  KING,  LL.  D., 
and  J.  R.  BRODHEAD,  Esq. 

At  the  next  meeting,  the  Hon.  JAMES  "W.  BEEKMAN,  from 
the  Committee,  appointed  to  prepare  resolutions  in  memo- 
ry of  HENRY  CLAY,  a  member  of  the  New  York  Histori- 
cal Society,  in  presenting  their  report,  said: 

Since  the  June  meeting  of  the  Society,  death  had  stricken 
down  several  of  the  chiefest  among  its  members.  During 
the  summer  recess,  HENRY  CLAY  has  ceased  from  among 
men,  and  a  name,  which  has  long  thrilled  every  American 
bosom  with  pride  and  love,  has  become  a  name  of  history. 

What  can  I  tell  you  of  HENRY  CLAY  that  is  not  already 
known  by  heart  by  us  all  ? — of  the  man  who  had  rather 
be  right  than  be  President;  who,  everywhere  and  under 
all  circumstances,  loved  his  country  first  and  himself  last; 
who  grappled,  at  the  very  beginning  of  his  public  actions, . 
in  1797,  with  that  most  unpopular,  yet  most  important  of 
subjects,  negro  slavery — exposing  its  evils,  and,  at  every 
hazard  to  himself,  striving  to  root  it  out  of  the  soil  of  Ken- 

171 


tucky  ; — who  founded  the  Colonization  Society,  and  never 
spared  an  effort  to  mitigate  the  hugest  evil  that  threatens 
his  country. 

I  might  remind  the  Society  of  Mr.  CLAY'S  successful  ef- 
forts in  the  legislature  of  Kentucky,  to  preserve  the  Com- 
mon Law  to  her  courts  of  justice.  An  attempt,  well  nigh 
successful,  was  made  to  prohibit  reference  to  any  prece- 
dents of  the  British  Reports  in  legal  proceedings.  Four- 
fifths  of  the  Assembly  wished  Kentucky  removed  as  far 
from  Great  Britain  in  jurisprudence  as  in  geography. 
Mr.  CLAY  saw  the  importance  of  this  outbreak  of  preju- 
dice, and  its  danger  to  the  Commonwealth,  and  turned  the 
tide  of  ignorance  and  passion  by  his  single  might.  His 
control  over  his  auditory  was  most  absolute  and  astonish- 
ing. Holding  the  rough  backwoodsmen  in  rapt  astonish- 
ment.— now  bathing  them  in  tears,  and  now  convulsing 
them  with  laughter;  and  all  about  mere  dry  disquisitions 
on  the  Common  Law.  When  he  concluded,  says  an  eye- 
witness, scarce  a  vestige  of  opposition  remained. 

The  eloquence  of  CLAY  was  not  merely  the  oratory  of 
ancient  Greece,  that  '•  swayed  the  fierce  democracy  at  will;" 
but  was  as  powerful  in  debate  as  before  a  popular  assem- 
bly. On  one  occasion  pre-eminently  he  measured  weapons 
with  WEBSTER.  Both  were  in  their  prime.  In  1824,  the  tariff 
was  once  more  before  Congress.  CLAY  advocated  amend- 
ments which  WEBSTER  opposed.  Then  were  wars  such  as 
giants  wage.  The  eloquence  of  WEBSTER  was  described 
as  the  majestic  roar  of  a  strong  and  steady  blast,  pealing 
through  the  forest;  but  that  of  CLAY  was  like  the  tones  of 
a  celestial  harp, — sometimes  thrilled  as  by  angel's  fingers, 
and  swept  anon  as  by  the  furies  of  the  storm.  Mr.  WEB- 
STER was  defeated,  and,  by  the  close  vote  of  107  to  102, 

172 


itei^i)  ChiJ- 


CLAY  vindicated  his  American  System,  and  established  it 
as  the  policy  of  the  country  for  many  years. 

Twice  Mr.  CLAY,  under  Providence,  was  the  means  of 
averting  dire  calamities.  Once  in  1821,  he  accompanied 
the  Missouri  Compromise,  with  such  personal  toil  and  anx- 
iety as  well  nigh  cost  his  life.  Again,  in  1850,  when  the 
series  of  national  measures,  which  great  men  of  all  parties 
in  Congress  labored  to  accomplish,  were  on  the  anvil, 
HEXRY  CLAY  was  foremost  in  the  work.  Here  he  laid 
down  his  life;  for  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  in  his  old 
age  the  night  long  labors  of  the  forum  wore  him  out. 
Striving  for  his  country,  compromising  every  thing  but 
honor  for  her  good,  he  fell; — not  the  less  glorious  because 
he  fell — not  on  the  battle  field,  but  on  that  intellectual 
arena  where  Americans  decide  the  destiny  of  their  nation 
by  the  contest  of  minds,  as  they  remedy  their  grievances 
by  the  arbitrament  of  the  ballot-box.  To  the  statesman, 
far  more  fitly  than  to  the  warrior,  apply  the  Roman  words: 

"  Dulce  et  decorum  est  pro  patria  mori." 

On  behalf  of  the  committee  charged  with  that  duty,  I  re- 
spectfully submit  for  adoption  by  the  Society,  the  following 
resolutions : 

Resolved,  That  while  the  whole  people  of  the  United 
States  mourn  the  death  of  HENRY  CLAY  as  a  national  be- 
reavement, the  New  York  Historical  Society  laments  it  as 
the  loss  of  one  of  its  most  honored  members. 

Resolved,  That  the  life  of  HENRY  CLAY,  the  orator,  the 
advocate,  the  ambassador,  the  statesman,  ever  devoted  to 
his  country's  service,  and  shortened  by  his  ardent  labors 
in  times  of  her  extremity,  presents,  for  imitation  in  after 
days,  a  rare  pattern  of  lofty  intellect  and  a  noble  heart. 

173 


Obsequies  of 


Resolved,  That  although  the  State  of  New  York  might 
well  adopt  the  words  of  one  of  her  own  eminent  sons,  "  I 
envy  Kentucky,  for  when  HE  dies  she  will  have  his  ashes;" 
the  memory  of  CLAY  and  the  record  of  his  great  deeds  are 
of  the  world,  and  his  fame  finds  its  materials  in  the  ar- 
chives of  universal  history. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions,  duly  attested 
by  the  seal  of  the  Society,  and  signed  by  the  President  and 
Secretary,  be  transmitted  to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 

Rev.  F.  L.  HAWKS,  D.D.,  LL.  D.,  said,  he  was  unwilling 
that  the  question  should  be  taken  without  saying  a  few 
words;  and  he  did  so,  not  in  the  hope  that  he  could  add  any- 
thing to  the  reputation  of  the  illustrious  HENRY  CLAY,  but 
because  he  knew  him  intimately,  and  bore  many  recollec- 
tions which  endeared  his  memory.  He  was,  indeed,  a  won- 
derful man.  His  extraordinary  power  of  eloquence,  was 
natural;  it  resulted  from  the  strong  feelings  of  a  warm  and 
honest  heart.  This  was  the  secret  of  the  hold  he  pos- 
sessed over  those  who  knew  him.  He  ever  had  their  af- 
fection. He  had  said  that  he  could  not  add  to  the  glory  of 
his  name  ;  but  there  was  one  feature  in  his  character  to 
which  he  might  properly  call  the  notice  of  Americans. 
There  were  those  in  other  lands  who  asserted,  and  were 
willing  to  believe,  that  religious  feeling  was  eminently  de- 
fective in  this  country,  and  they  would  improve  it  by  in- 
troducing the  system  existing  among  themselves,  of  making 
religion  rest  upon  legislative  enactments,  more  than  upon 
our  reason  and  honest  convictions*  Now,  he  believed  that 
our  fathers  who  emigrated  hither,  were  at  least  as  religious 
as  any  equal  number  they  left  behind  them;  they  laid  their 
foundations  in  religion — it  was  the  basis  of  their  subsequent 

174 


Ij-eDlMjGijiu. 


prosperity.  This  religious  feeling  exercised  a  large  influ- 
ence, and  was  the  cause  of  the  order  which  prevailed,  gen- 
erally, in  this  country,  shown  in  the  quiet  submission  to 
law,  and  acquiescence  in  the  will  of  the  majority.  Occa- 
sional outbreaks  among  twenty-three  millions  of  people, 
were  of  course  to  be  expected,  but  they  certainly  furnished 
exceptions  to  the  rule,  not  the  rule  itself.  He  would  illus- 
trate by  a  single  historical  fact.  Upon  our  acquisition  of 
territory  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  they  could  remember 
how  quickly  people  from  all  parts  of  the  Union  hastened 
to  the  new  found  El  Dorado.  Many  of  these  came  from 
parts  of  the  country  widely  separate,  and  were  different  in 
manners — knowing  nothing  of  each  other,  but  this,  that 
they  had  the  privilege  of  being  Americans,  and  under  a 
free  constitution.  In  an  incredibly  short  time,  before  the 
general  government  could  interpose  to  furnish  them,  they 
formed  apian  of  government  for  themselves — moved  there- 
to by  the  habits  of  order  in  which  they  had  been  trained, 
(and  religious  habits  were  at  the  bottom  of  it)  they  formed 
a  constitution,  and  established  order.  Now,  take  an  equal 
number  of  men  of  any  other  part  of  the  earth,  and  place 
them  under  such  circumstances,  and  he  felt  assured  that 
anarchy  and  confusion  would  have  been  the  result.  This 
fact  showed  that  they  possessed  sufficient  religious  feeling 
to  know  that  GOD  willed  order,  and  they  acted  on  it.  Now, 
the  feature  to  which  he  had  alluded,  was  the  religious  close 
of  Mr.  CLAY'S  life.  Here  was  one  of  our  greatest  states- 
men— one  who  guided  public  opinion  in  a  large  degree — 
one  over  whom  his  countrymen  literally  wept,  and  who, 
was  perhaps  more  personally  beloved  than  any  other  ser- 
vant of  the  republic;  and  what  was  the  closing  scene? 
Why,  as  his  mind  ran  over  the  events  of  his  honored  and 

175 


0bgec)t|ie$  of 


useful  life,  bright  as  they  were,  he  could  but  feel  that  the 
last  was  the  brightest.  He  died  as  a  Christkn;  and  Amer- 
ica could  say  of  this  one  of  her  noblest  son?,  that  he  had 
so  lived  that  his  country  could  honor  him,  and  ?o  died,  that 
selfishness  only  could  regret  his  departure  to  happiness. 

Rev.  Dr.  VAN  PELT  also,  in  a  few  eloquent  remarks,  al- 
luded to  the  character,  virtues,  and  especially  to  the  reli- 
gious feelings  of  the  illustrious  deceased. 


SOCIETY   OF  CINCINNATI,  MASS. 

A  meeting  of  the  MASSACHUSETTS'  STATE  SOCIETY  OP 
CINCINNATI,  was  convened  for  the  purpose  of  expressing 
their  sympathy  for  the  loss  the  nation  had  sustained  in 
the  death  of  HENRY  CLAY,  and  of  manifesting  their  high 
appreciation  of  the  character  of  the  honorable  deceased. 
After  the  object  of  the  meeting  being  stated  by  the  Presi- 
dent, it  was  voted  that  FEANKLIN  PIERCE,  CHARLES  S. 
DAVIES  and  Col.  SECOR,  be  a  committee  to  report  resolu- 
tions on  the  death  of  HENRY  CLAY. 

The  Committee,  by  their  Chairman,  after  a  beautiful 
speech  from  Gen.  PIERCE,  on  the  resolutions,  made  their 
report. 

Resolved,  That  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati  of  Massa- 
chusetts, in  common  with  the  people  of  this  entire  country, 
deeply  deplore  the  death  of  the  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  and 
that  as  in  life,  his  brilliant  genius  and  ardent  patriotism 
have  commanded  universal  admiration,  so  in  death,  the 
grateful  memory  of  his  eminent  services  in  the  councils  of 
the  nation,  for  almost  half  of  a  century,  will  be  sacredly 
cherished  while  the  Union  shall  endure. 

176 


Resolved,  That  the  foregoing  resolution  be  forwarded 
by  the  President  to  the  widow  of  the  great  statesman  and 
patriot,  with  the  Society's  sincerest  sympathy. 

ADAMS  BAILEY,  Secretary. 


TO    THE    CITIZENS    OF    HOBOKEN. 

Whereas,  By  the  dispensation  of  an  all-wise  Providence, 
the  greatest  statesman,  the  purest  patriot  and  the  most  elo- 
quent civilian  of  the  age,  who  by  his  devoted  services  for 
more  than  half  a  century  has  endeared  himself  to  the  peo- 
ple, and  commands  the  admiration  of  the  world,  was  re- 
moved from  our  midst  on  the  29th  of  June  last,  and 

Whereas,  We  deeply  sympathize  with  the  great  Whig 
party  of  the  United  States,  under  the  irreparable  loss  it 
has  sustained  by  the  death  of  its  illustrious  advocate,  the 
Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  whose  public  obsequies  have  been  ar- 
ranged to  take  place  in  the  city  of  New  York,  on  Tuesday, 
the  20th  inst.;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  we  condole  with  our  fellow-citizens,  un- 
der this  great  affliction,  and  earnestly  request  that,  as  far 
as  practicable,  they  close  their  places  of  business,  and  sus- 
pend their  labors  on  that  day,  and  also  drape  their  houses 
and  public  buildings  in  mourning. 

Resolved,  That  cannon  be  fired  every  five  minutes  during 
the  movement  of  the  procession,  in  Hoboken,  and  the 
church  bells  be  tolled  for  two  hours. 

Resolved,  That  the  members  of  the  C  ommittee  wear  crape 
on  the  left  arm  for  two  weeks,  as  a  token  of  respect;  and 
that  they  will  meet  at  the  Town  Hall,  (except  they  are 
engaged  with  the  military,)  one  hour  before  the  time  ar- 

12  177 


Obsequies  of 


ranged  for  the  formation  of  the  line,  with  those  of  our  cit- 
izens who  wish  to  join  in  the  cortege.     Also, 

Resolved,  That  we  cordially  invite  all  our  citizens,  with- 
out distinction  of  party,  to  meet  with  us  at  the  time  and 
place  designated,  and  assist  us  in  paying  a  last  tribute  to 
departed  worth. 

Whig  Executive  Committee. 
ISAAC  V.  BROWER,  HAZELTON  WALKLY, 

DAVID  M.  DEMAREST,       JAMES  STEVENSON, 
WILLIAM  MITCHELL. 

JOHN  M.  BOARD,  Chairman. 
JOHN  "W.  VAN  BOSKERCK,  Secretary. 


FIRE  DEPARTMENT. 

Special  meeting  of  Engineers  and  Foremen,  held  at  Fire- 
men's Hall,  on  Thursday  evening,  July  15th,  1852,  ALFRED 
CARSON,  Esq.,  Chief  Engineer,  in  the  chair.  Roll  called, 
and  ninety-one  officers  present. 

The  chairman  having  stated  that  he  had  called  the  meet- 
ing for  the  purpose  of  laying  before  them  the  joint  resolu- 
tion, as  passed  the  Common  Council  of  the  city  of  New 
York,  extending  an  invitation  to  the  Fire  Department  to 
participate  in  the  funeral  obsequies  to  the  late  Hon. 
HENRY  CLAY. 

On  motion,  the  invitation  was  accepted,  and  the  Chief 
and  Assistant  Engineers  were  appointed  a  committee  to 
make  the  necessary  arrangements. 

ALFRED  CARSON,  Chief  Engineer. 
JESSE  THOMAS,  Secretary. 


i'lciirlj  tiqtj. 


1.0.    OF    O.F. 

CITY  OF  NEW  YORK,  JULY  17th,  1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — Your  invitation,  on  the  part  of  the  Hon- 
orable the  Common  Council,  addressed  to  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  Southern  New  York,  to  unite  with  the  citizens 
of  New  York,  in  solemnizing  the  obsequies  of  the  late 
Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  and  paying  a  last  testimony  of  respect 
to  the  illustrious  deceased,  was  received  on  Thursday,  the 
15th  inst.  A  special  meeting  of  the  G.  L.  was  convened 
last  evening,  and  after  a  full  interchange  of  opinion  be- 
tween its  members,  it  was  generally  concurred  in,  that 
owing  to  the  short  time  allowed  for  the  necessary  arrange- 
ments, together  with  the  engagements  entered  into  by  many 
of  its  members  to  turn  out  with  other  bodies,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  get  a  sufficient  number  of  the  members  to- 
gether, to  make  our  turn-out,  a  "  testimony  of  respect." 
Under  these  circumstances,  the  Grand  Lodge  has  no  alter- 
native, though  it  is  with  the  deepest  regret,  but  most  re- 
spectfully decline  the  invitation  so  kindly  tendered. 

Yours  respectfully, 
JOHN  J.  DAVIES,  Grand  Secretary. 


AMESICAN    INSTITUTE. 

At  a  regular  meeting  of  the  American  Institute,  the  fol- 
lowing resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  the  members  of  the  American  Institute 
have  heard  of  the  death  of  the  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  of  Ken- 
tucky, with  feelings  of  the  deepest  regret,  and  de.-ire  to 
unite  their  sympathies  with  their  countrymen  throughout 

179 




0bgec)t|ies  of 


the  Union,  in  deploring  the  loss  our  most  eminent  states- 
man. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  peculiarly  appropriate  for  the  Amer- 
ican Institute,  an  association  formed  for  the  purpose  of 
promoting  national  industry,  to  cherish  the  memory  of  the 
great  champion  of  the  American  System. 

Resolved,  That  the  members  of  this  Institute  remember, 
with  feelings  of  gratification,  the  early  visits  to,  and  the 
deep  interest  manifested  by  Mr.  CLAY,  in  the  welfare  of 
this  association,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  oldest  hon- 
orary members,  and  desire  on  this  occasion  to  express  their 
heart-felt  testimony  to  the  long  continued  public  services; 
the  purity  of  the  motives,  and  the  exalted  patriotism  which 
distinguished  the  life  and  career  of  the  departed  senator. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  forwarded 
to  the  family  of  Mr.  CLAY. 

ROBERT  LOVETT,  Vice  President. 

HENRY  MEIGS,  Recording  Secretary. 


NEW  YORK  TYPOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY. 

At  a  regular  meeting  of  this  Society,  the  following  pre- 
amble and  resolutions  were  adopted  : 

Whereas,  Our  country  has  been  bereft  of  one  of  her 
purest  patriots  and  wisest  statesmen,  in  the  loss  of  HENRY 
CLAY,  whose  name  and  history  are  so  dear  and  sacred  to 
us  all;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  members  of  the  New  York  Typo, 
graphical  Society  would  mournfully  mingle  their  feelings 
of  sorrow  with  their  fellow-citizens  throughout  the  Union, 
and  attest  their  sense  of  respect  for  the  illustrious  dead,  by 
placing  upon  their  records  this  mark  of  esteem  for  the 

IfeO 


tfeiKti  t)!<jt|. 


memory  of  him  who  "  knew  no  north,  no  south,  no  east,  no 
west,"  nothing  but  his  country. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  the  foregoing  resolutions  be 
transmitted  to  the  family  of  the  lamented  deceased. 

DANIEL  GODWIN,  President  pro  tern . 
E.  M.  SKIDMORE,  Secretary. 


ORDER  OF  UNITED   AMERICANS. 

The  Grand  Chancery  of  the  Order  of  United  Americans 
was  called  together  by  the  Grand  Sachem,  to  make  the 
necessary  arrangements  for  participating  in  the  solemnities 
of  the  20th  of  July. 

The  G.  C.  of  the  C.  then  read  the  following  communica- 
tion from  the  Grand  Sachem  : 

NEW  YORK,  JULY  12, 1852. 
To  the  Honorable  the  Chancery,  State  of  New  York: 

It  has  become  my  painful  duty  to  inform  you,  officially, 
of  the  death  of  one  of  our  country's  most  distinguished  and 
honored  sons,  the  better  portion  of  whose  life  has  been  de- 
voted to  her  service,  and  the  loss  of  whom  our  common 
country  mourns  as  truly  a  national  calamity. 

HENRY  CLAY  is  dead ! 

He  closed  his'  active  and  eventful  life  at  the  city  of 
Washington,  on  Tuesday,  the  29th  day  of  June  last.  His 
remains,  in  charge  of  a  Congressional  Committee,  passed 
through  our  city  to  its  final  resting-place,  at  Ashland,  and 
rested  here,  at  the  Governor's  Room,  City  Hall,  on  the  an- 
niversary of  our  national  birthday. 

The  Common  Council  of  our  city  have  resolved  to  per- 
form the  obsequies  to  his  memory  by  a  military  and  civic 

181 


Obsequies  of 


procession,  on  the  20th  of  the  present  month,  as  a  fitting 
testimonial  of  the  love  and  respect  of  a  free  people  for  the 
memory  of  one  of  such  exalted  patriotism,  and  who  has 
rendered  our  country  such  distinguished  and  valuable  ser- 
vice. I  make  this  official  announcement,  trusting  that 
your  honorable  body  will  take  such  measures  for  the  par- 
ticipation by  our  patriotic  Order  in  the  solemnities  of  that 
occasion,  as  in  your  wisdom  may  seem  proper. 

W.  W.  OSBORN,  Grand  Sachem. 
After  the  communication  was  read,  it  was 

Resolved,  That  this  Chancery  will  unite,  in  its  official 
capacity,  with  the  Common  Council  and  our  fellow-citizens 
in  the  obsequies  to  the  late  HENRY  CLAY,  and  that  the 
several  Chapters,  under  this  jurisdiction,  and  our  brethren 
of  other  States,  be  invited  to  join  with  us  on  that  occasion. 

NEW  YORK,  JULY  15th,  1852. 

DEAR  SIR  : — The  Order  of  United  Americans  having 
appointed  a  committee  to  make  arrangements  for  uniting 
with  the  Honorable  the  Common  Council  in  obsequies  to 
the  honor  of  the  late  HENRY  CLAY,  I  have  the  honor  to 
solicit  from  your  Committee  the  usual  place  assigned  to 
our  order  on  previous  occasions  of  this  nature,  in  the  line 
of  procession. 

Our  number  will  probably  amount  to  about  two  thou- 
sand men,  making  all  allowance  for  those  that  may  be 
drawn  off  in  the  ranks  of  the  military  and  fire  department. 

Your  ob't  servant, 

THOS.  R.  WHITNEY, 

Chairman  Com.  of  Arrangements. 


Alderman  WILLIAM  M.  TWEED. 


182 


ft  en  Ir  ji 'Glqij. 


NATIONAL  ACADEMY  OF  DESIGN. 

GENTLEMEN  : — I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you,  that  at  a 
special  meeting  of  our  academicians,  associates,  honorary 
members  and  students,  and  of  the  artists  generally,  the 
national  bereavement  in  the  decease  of  that  eminent  and 
beloved  statesman  and  citizen,  the  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  was 
communicated,  and  resolutions  were  entered  upon  our  jour- 
nals, expressive  of  an  exalted  admiration  of  his  matchless 
genius;  of  our  gratitude  for  his  long  and  unrivalled  public 
services,  and  of  an  earnest  sympathy  with  the  sorrowing 
millions  of  our  countrymen. 

We  subsequently  united  with  the  Common  Council  and 
the  people  of  our  city,  in  the  last  tribute  of  respect  to  the 
illustrious  dead. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

T.  ADDISON  RICHARDS, 

Cor.  Secretary,  N.  Jl. 

To  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  on  the  obsequies  of  the 
late  HENRY  CLAY. 


NEW  YOBK,  JULY  14th,  1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — I  am  instructed  by  the  Clay  Festival  As- 
sociation, to  notify  your  Honorable  Body,  that  the  Asso- 
ciation intend  to  take  part  and  participate  in  the  ceremo- 
nies of  the  20th  inst. 

Please  to  communicate,  if  convenient,  what  position,  or 
place,  will  be  designated  for  the  Association  in  the  pro- 
cession. 

Respectfully,  your  ob't  servant, 

M.  R.  BREWER,  President. 


To  the  Committee  of  Arrangements. 


185 


NEWBUBG,  JULY  15, 1852. 

DEAR  SIR  : — Having'seen  by  the  "papers  that  you  intend 
to  honor  the  memory  of  the  illustrious  HENRY  CLAY,  by 
a  funeral  procession,  in  your  city,  on  the  20th  inst.  A 
meeting  of  the  Clay  Club  was  called  for  last  evening,  at 
the  Orange  Hotel,  for  the  purpose  of  making  suitable  ar- 
rangements to  participate  in  the  honor  of  paying  respect 
to  the  greatest  of  statesmen.  Among  other  proceedings 
the  following  was  had : 

Resolved,  That  the  Clay  Club,  of  Newburg,  attend  the 
funeral  obsequies  of  the  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  on  Tuesday 
next,  and  that  the  Chairman  be  requested  to  communicate 
with  the  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  informing 
him  of  the  passage  of  the  resolution,  and  also  requesting  a 
place  in  the  procession  on  that  mournful  occasion. 

I  am,  with  great  respect, 
Yours,  &c., 

R.  D.  KEMP,  Chairman. 

R.  T.  COMFION,  Esq.,  President  Board  of  Aldermen. 


PORT  WARDENS'  OFFICE, 

JULY  15, 1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — I  have  the  honor  herewith  to  hand  you  a 
copy  of  the  minutes  of  the  Board  of  Port  Wardens,  and 
also  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  polite  note  of  the 
14th  inst. 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  ob'dt  servant, 

W.  W.  STORY,  Master  Warden. 

Messrs.  WESLEY  SMITH,  Wni.  J.  BRISLEY,  J.\o.  TROTTER,  Committee. 


ij-enirii  CJ3p. 

HWM^MBP 

PORT  WARDENS'  OFFICE, 
JULY  15, 1852. 

Resolved,  That  this  Board,  entertaining  the  highest  re- 
gard for  the  great  public  services  of  the  late  Hon.  HENRY 
CLAY,  will  unite  with  the  Honorable  the  Common  Council, 
in  testifying  their  respect  to  his  memory,  and  will  attend 
in  a  body  on  the  20th  inst. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  the  above  resolution  be  fur- 
nished the  Committee  of  Arrangements,  signed  by  the  Mas- 
ter Warden  and  Clerk  of  this  Board. 

[Copy  of  minutes.] 

W.  W.  STORY,  Master  Warden. 
ROBERT  T.  NORRIS,  Clerk. 


CADETS  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

NEW  YORK,  JULY  14, 1852. 

GENTLEMEN  : — In  accordance  with  your  request,  the 
Mount  Vernon  Section,  No.  1,  Cadets  of  Temperance,  of 
this  city,  herewith  express  to  you  their  wish  to  unite  in 
the  ceremonies  of  the  obsequies  of  the  late  Hon.  HENRY 
CLAY,  to  be  held  on  the  20th  inst.  We  presume  our  po- 
sition in  the  line  will  be  noticed  in  the  programme  of  the 
day. 

Yours,  very  respectfully, 

JOSEPH  T.  REED, 
Chairman  Com.  of  Arrangements. 


To  the  Special  Committee  of  the  Common  Council 
on  the  obsequies  of  Honorable  HENRY  CLAY. 


0'i series  of 

MECHANICS'  SECTION,  No.  2. 

NEW  YORK,  JULY  17, 1852. 

In  accordance  with  the  request  of  the  Special  Commit- 
tee of  the  Common  Council,  the  Mechanics'  Section,  No.  2, 
of  the  Order  of  Cadets  of  Temperance,  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  hereby  give  notice  of  their  wish  to  participate  in 
the  funeral  obsequies  of  the  late  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  on 
Tuesday  next,  and  that  they  wish  to  be  assigned  a  place 
in  the  line  with  Mount  Yernon  Section,  No.  1,  Cadets  of 
Temperance. 

Respectfully, 

CHARLES  PAYNTON, 

Chairman . 
To  the  Committee  of  Arrangements,  funeral  obsequies  of  HENRY  CLAY. 


YOUNG   MEN'S   DEBATING  SOCIETY. 

The  Young  Men's  Debating  Society  of  the  city  of  New 
York,  most  respectfully  notify  your  honorable  Committee 
that  we  have  made  all  the  necessary  preparations,  and  de- 
sire joining  in  the  mournful  pageant  on  the  20th  inst. 

Therefore,  any  position  which  you  may  be  pleased  to 
assign  us  in  the  procession,  will  be  gratefully  acceded  to. 

Yours,  most  respectfully, 

THOMAS  J.  MUNDAY, 

Chairman  of  Committee  of  Arrangements. 

To  Committee  on  Civic  Societies  and  Associations. 


1S6 


Your  Committee  embrace  this  opportunity  of  tendering 
their  sincere  acknowledgments  to  the  officers  and  mem- 
bers of  the  First  Division,  New  York  State  Militia,  also,  to 
the  officers  and  members  of  the  various  companies  from 
adjacent  cities,  for  their  prompt  and  efficient  services  upon 
this  melancholy  occasion.  This  great  arm  of  protection 
to  our  national  institutions  paraded  in  such  immense 
numbers,  as  at  once  to  establish  their  high  appreciation 
of  the  character  of  the  illustrious  deceased,  and  to  com- 
mand the  gratitude  of  the  Common  Council  of  New  York, 
and  the  admiration  of  the  whole  country. 

The  following  orders  of  the  various  companies,  were 
laid  before  the  Committee,  from  the 

MILITARY    DEPARTMENT. 


irst  giJusi0n, 


)'0rfe  State    lilitis. 


DIVISION  ORDERS. 


NEW  YORK,  JULY  15th,  1852. 

This  Division  will  parade  on  Tuesday  next,  the  20th  of 
July  instant,  for  the  purpose  of  uniting  with  the  public 
authorities  and  our  fellow-citizens,  in  rendering  funeral 
honors  to  the  late  lamented  HENRY  CLAY. 

The  Division  line  will  be  formed  on  Broadway,  the  left 
resting  on  Chambers  street,  at  half-past  2  o'clock,  p.  M., 
precisely. 

Brigadier  General  Spicer  will  detail  a  suitable  detach- 
ment from  his  command,  to  fire  minute-guns  from  the  Bat- 


is? 


t)bgefjt|ies  of 


tery  during  the  procession,  and  will  make  requisition  upon 
the  Commissary  General  for  the  necessary  ammunition. 

Brigadier  General  Hall  will  direct  a  troop  of  horse  for 
escort  duty,  to  report  to  the  Major  General,  at  his  quar- 
ters, at  two  o'clock  ;  and  a  troop  of  horse  for  guard  duty, 
to  the  Division  Inspector,  upon  the  Parade  ground,  at  the 
same  hour. 

Broadway,  from  Chambers  street  to  Astor  place,  is  des- 
ignated as  the  Parade  ground  of  the  Division,  from  two 
o'clock,  P.  M.  until  the  commencement  of  the  procession. 

Commandants  of  Regiments  will  send  their  standard 
and  camp  colors  to  the  City  Hall,  on  Monday  next,  at 
eight  o'clock,  A.  M.,to  be  draped  with  appropriate  emblems 
of  mourning,  under  the  direction  of  the  Committee  of  Ar- 
rangements. 

Officers  will  wear  the  usual  badges  of  mourning  upon 
their  left  arm  and  sword-hilt. 

The  Division  Staff  will  assemble  at  the  quarters  of  the 
Major  General,  at  two  o'clock,  p.  M. 

Commandants  of  Brigades,  Regiments  and  Companies, 
are  directed  to  report,  and  return  to  court  martial,  the 
names  of  any  officers,  non-commissioned  officers,  or  pri- 
vates, who  may  leave  the  ranks  during  the  parade,  with- 
out the  permission  of  their  officers. 

By  order  of 

CHAS.  W.  SANDFORD, 

Maj.  Gen.  Commanding. 

R.  C.  WETMORE,  Division  Inspector. 

188 


||0r!i  $>M*  ipilitix. 


NEW  "i  ORE,  JULY  15th,  1852. 


The  foregoing  Division  orders  are  promulgated  for  the 
information  and  government  of  this  Brigade,  and,  in  com- 
pliance therewith, 


This  Brigade  will  parade  on  Tuesday  next,  the  20th  July, 
inst.,  for  the  purpose  of  rendering  funeral  honors  to  the 
late  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY. 

The  Brigade  line  will  be  formed  on  the  Fifth  avenue, 
right  on  Washington  Parade  ground,  at  half  past  one 
o'clock,  p.  M.,  precisely. 

The  Veteran  Corps  of  Artillery,  Capt.  Raynor,  is  here- 
by detailed  to  fire  minute-guns  from  the  Battery  during  the 
procession.  Capt.  Raynor  will  make  requisition  on  the 
Commissary  General  for  the  necessary  ammunition. 

The  Brigade  Staff  will  assemble  at  the  quarters  of  the 
Brigadier  General,  at  one  o'clock,  precisely. 

By  order  of 

CHARLES  B.  SPICER, 

Brigadier  General. 
C.  H.  SMITH,  Acting  Brigade  Maj. 


Obsequies  of 

ieto  |0r!t  State  HlUitia, 

BRIGADE  ORDERS. 

NEW  YORK,  JULY  1-1  th,  1852. 

This  Brigade  will  parade  in  full  uniform,  in  compliance 
with  the  above  Division  order.  The  line  will  be  formed  at 
2  o'clock,  P.  M.,  precisely,  on  Broadway,  east  side,  right 
resting  on  Walker  street.  The  Staff  will  meet  at  the  Gen- 
eral's quarters,  at  quarter  before  2  o'clock,  p.  M. 

By  order, 

WILLIAM  HALL, 

Brigadier  General. 


f  0ttttjr  §riph,  Ueto  10rh  State  glilithu 

BRIGADE  ORDERS. 

NEW  YORK,  JULY  15th,  1852. 

Pursuant  to  Division  orders  of  this  date,  this  Brigade 
will  parade  on  Tuesday  next,  the  20th  of  July,  instant,  for 
the  purpose  of  uniting  with  the  public  authorities  and  our 
fellow-citizens,  in  rendering  funeral  honors  to  the  lamented 
HEXRY  CLAY. 

The  Brigade  line  will  be  formed  on  Broadway,  the  left 
on  Chambers  street,  at  two  o'clock,  p.  M. 

Commandants  of  Regiments  will  send  their  standards 
and  camp  colors  to  the  City  Hall,  on  Monday  next,  at  8 
o'clock,  A.  M.,  to  be  dressed  in  mourning. 

Officers  will  wear  the  usual  badges  of  mourning  upon 
their  left  arm  and  sword  hilt. 

190 


tfeul-jj  6ln|j. 


The  Brigade  Staff  will  assemble  at  the  quarters  of  the 
Brigadier  General,  at  half-past  one  o'clock,  p.  M. 

Commandants  of  Regiments  and  Companies  are  direct- 
ed to  report,  and  return  to  court  martial,  the  names  of  any 
officers,  non-commissioned  officers,  or  privates,  who  may 
leave  the  ranks  during  the  parade,  without  the  permission 
of  their  officers. 

By  order  of 

JOHN  EWEN, 

Brig.  Gen.  Commanding. 
E.  J.  HAWLEY,  Act.  Jlid-de-Camp. 


Erginutit,  Jhm  ^nrk  Itab  3Bilitiu. 

REGIMENTAL  ORDER. 

NEW  YOKE,  JULY  16th,  1852. 

In  compliance  with  Division  and  Brigade  orders,  this 
Regiment  will  parade,  mounted,  and  in  full  uniform,  on 
Tuesday,  the  20th  inst.,  at  one  o'clock,  p.  M.,  to  participate 
in  the  funeral  solemnities  of  the  late  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY. 

The  line  will  be  formed  on  Fifth  avenue,  left  on  Fif- 
teenth street. 

The  usual  badges  of  mourning,  will  be  worn.     Troops 
will  join  in  squadrons,  at  half-past  one  o'clock. 
By  order  of 

WILLIAM  MENCK, 

Lieut.  Col.  Com. 
H.  H.  GUNTER,  Adjutant. 

E.  LYON,  Serg.  Major. 

191 


of 


/ottrijr  Urgimntt,  $m  fnrk  Itat*  Siilitin. 

REGIMENTAL  ORDER. 

NEW  YORK,  JULY  16th,  1852. 

Pursuant  to  Division  and  Brigade  orders,  tins  Begiment 
will  parade  as  Cavalry  and  Light  Artillery,  (Artillery  in 
white  pantaloons,)  on  Tuesday,  the  20th  July,  instant. 

The  line  will  be  formed  in  Broadway,  opposite  Union 
square,  left  on  Fifteenth  street,  at  1  o'clock,  p.  M. 

Officers  will  wear  the  usual  badges  of  mourning  on  the 
left  arm  and  sword  hilt. 

By  order  of 

CHAS.  YATES,  Colonel. 
N.  COLES,  Adjutant. 

H.  SMITH,  Serg.  Major. 


Intjr  lUginuttt,  Jhtn  ^nrk  Itnh  JSilitin. 


REGIMENTAL    ORDER. 


NEW  YORK,  JULY  15th,  1852. 

The  Brigade  orders  are  hereby  promulgated  for  the  in- 
formation and  government  of  this  command. 

It  is  becoming  in  citizens  of  all  classes  and  professions 
to  mourn  the  loss  of  a  great  and  good  man,  especially  one 
so  highly  esteemed,  and  possessing  so  thoroughly  the  re- 
spect and  admiration  of  his  countrymen,  as  HENRY  CLAY. 
The  authorities  of  our  city  having  appointed  Tuesday,  the 
20th  inst.,  to  do  honor  to  the  memory  of  the  illustrious 
deceased;  for  the  purpose  of  joining  the  solemnities  of  this 

192 


Tfcoi'il  Ciqij. 


mournful  occasion,  pursuant  to  Division  and  Brigade  or- 
ders, this  Regiment  will  parade  on  that  day,  fully  uniform- 
ed and  equipped — white  pants  (without  knapsack,)  and 
with  the  usual  badge  of  mourning.  Line  will  be  formed  in 
Broome  street,  right  on  Crosby,  at  half-past  one  o'clock, 
p.  M.  Commandants  of  companies  will  report  their  re- 
spective commands  to  the  Adjutant  fifteen  minutes  pre- 
vious to  that  time,  also  the  non-commissioned  staif.  The 
band,  color-bearer  and  general  guides  will  report  to  Cap- 
tain Gregory,  at  the  Mercer  House,  at  a  quarter  before 
one  o'clock,  p.  M. 

Field  and  Staff  will  report  to  the  commanding  officer, 
on  the  Parade  ground,  at  quarter  past  one  o'clock,  p.  M. 

By  order  of 

JOHN  G.  WELLSTOOD, 

Lieut.  Col.  Comd'g. 
WM.  CHALMERS,  Adjutant. 


lUginunt,  ®jm     nrk  itaU  JBilitin. 


REGIMENTAL  ORDER. 


:,  JULY,  16th,  1852. 

The  above  Brigade  orders  are  promulgated  for  the  use 
of  the  Regiment. 

In  obedience,  the  regiment  will  assemble  in  Chambers 
street,  right  resting  on  West  Broadway,  on  Tuesday  next, 
the  20th  iust.,  fully  armed  and  equipped,  at  half-past  one 
o'clock,  p.  M.,  at  which  hour  the  regimental  line  will  be 
formed. 

k    Adjutant  Stearns  will  see  that  the  standards  and  camp 

13  193 


0bsetji|ies  of  '!| 


colors  of  the  regiment  are  sent  to  the  City  Hall,  on  Mon- 
day morning  next,  at  8  o'clock,  to  be  draped  in  mourning. 

The  Court  of  Appeals,  for  the  above  parade,  will  be 
held  at  the  Mercer  House,  on  29th  of  August  next,  at  8 
o'clock,  P.  M.  Commandants  of  companies  will  make 
their  returns  within  ten  days  after  the  parade. 

By  order  of 

H.  G.  STEBBINS,  Colonel. 
CORNELIUS  CARNES,  Serg.  Major. 


NEW  YORK,  JULY  ICth,  1852. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Marshals  for  the  funer  al 
obsequies  of  the  late  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  held  at  the 
Mayor's  office  on  the  evening  of  the  15th,  the  following 
bill  of  dress  was  adopted  : 

Black  coat  and  pants,  with  white  vest. 

Chapeau,  without  ornament,  trimmed  with  crape. 

Scarf—  black  satin,  trimmed  with  crape. 

Crape  knot  on  left  arm. 

Dress  sword,  scabbard  covered  with  black  velvet,  and 
hilt  with  crape  mourning  knot. 

Black  body-belt  worn  over  the  coat. 

Light  spurs. 

Black  saddle  cloth,  trimmed  with  deep  fringe,  and  cord 
festooned  in  front. 

Russet  bridle,  with  black  fringe,  and  crape  knot  on  the 
foretop  and  nose  piece. 

Black  kid  gloves. 

194 


it.:  ih1  U    t! 


Baton — white,  with  gilt  balls  on  the  ends,  trimmed  with 
black  crape. 

The  following  articles  will  be  furnished  by  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  Common  Council. 

The  scarf,  gloves,  sword  mountings  and  baton.  The 
use  of  horse  equipments  and  chapeaux. 

Marshals  will  send  their  swords,  for  mounting,  to  Child 
&  Wemmell,  31  Park  row,  immediately  on  receipt  of  this 
order. 

They  will  al?o  order  their  chapeaux  from  Mr.  Ira  Todd, 
178  Broadway. 

Horse  equipments  will  be  procured  of  C.  Francis,  39 
Bowery. 

Marshals  wishing  to  use  their,  own  saddles  and  cha- 
peaux will  cause  the  saddles  to  be  sent  immediately  to 
Mr.  Francis,  to  have  the  saddle-cloth  fitted  ;  and  their 
chapeaux  to  Child  &  Wemmell  to  be  draped. 

The  chapeaux  and  horse  equipments  that  are  furnished, 
will  be  returned  as  soon  as  convenient,  after  the  parade. 

A  meeting  of  the  marshals  will  be  held  at  the  Mayor's 
office,  on  Monday,  19th  inst,  at  half-past  7  o'clock,  p.  M. 

WILLIAM  HALL, 

Grand  Marshal. 
JAMES  F.  HALL,  Secretary. 

MONDAY  EVENING,  JULY  19th,  1852. 

The  Board  of  Marshals  met  at  the.  Mayor's  office,  pur- 
suant to  previous  notice ;  the  Grand  Marshal  in  the 
chair. 

The  minutes  of  the  previous  meeting  were  read  and  ap- 
proved. 

1.95 


The  Grand  Marshal  stated  the  regulations  for  the  pa- 
rade, and  assigned  the  Aids  their  respective  divisions. 

Adjourned  to  meet  at  the  Grand  Marshal's  quarters, 
No.  16  White  street,  at  half-past  one  o'clock,  p.  M.,  to- 
morrow. 

WILLIAM  HALL, 

Grand  Marshal. 
JAMES  F.  HALL,  Secretary. 

OBSEQUIES  OF  THE  LATE  HON,  HENRY  CLAY, 

MARSHAL'S  ORDER. 

NEW  YORK,  JULY  20th,  1852. 

The  different  orders,  societies,  associations,  &c.,  in- 
tending to  participate  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  day,  will 
report  to  the  Aids  of  the  Grand  Marshal,  on  the  right  of 
the  respective  divisions,  'at  a  quarter-past  two  o'clock, 
p.  M.,  precisely.  Columns  will  form,  six  abreast,  march 
in  close  order.  Marshals  will  cause  this  order  to  be 
strictly  enforced.  The  aids  will  assemble  at  the  Grand 
Marshal's  quarters,  No.  16  White  street,  at  half-past  one 

o'clock,  p.  M. 

By  order, 

WILLIAM  HALL, 

Grand  Marshal. 
JOHN  W.  AVERT,  Aid. 


The  various  sub-committees  having  completed  their  ar- 
rangements, and  every  thing  now  being  in  entire  readiness 
for  solemnizing  the  obsequies  in  a  manner  comporting  with 
the  character  and  standing  of  the  deceased,  and  commen- 
surate with  the  wealth  and  dignity  of  this  city,  the  Com- 
mittee on  Programme,  assisted  by  the  Grand  Marshal,  re- 
ported the  following 

196 


PROGRAMME  OF   ARRANGEMENTS 

FOR   THE 

FUNERAL  CEREMONIES 


ION.        ENR  Y    CLAY 


The  Joint  Committee,  appointed  by  the  Common  Council 
of  the  city  of  New  York,  to  make  the  necessary  arrange- 
ments for  solemnizing  the  obsequies  of  the  lamented  HEXRY 
CLAY,  have  adopted  the  following  Programme  of  Arrange- 
ments for  the  occasion. 

GENERAL  WILLIAM  HALL 

HAS    BEEN   UNANIMOUSLY    SELECTED    AS 


©f  tfjc  tag,  fafjo  f)as  anjiointrtj  tf)t  follofoinjj  gentlemen  as  f)is 


WM.  L.  MORRIS, 
JOHN  W.  AVERY, 
JOHN  J.  CISCO, 
FREEMAN  CAMPBELL, 
MEDAD  PLATT, 
J.  B.  MONTGOMERY, 
A.  A.  BREMNER, 
JAMES  F.  HALL, 
SAMUEL  OSGOOD, 
WM.  T.  CHILD, 
JOHN  A.  BUNTING, 
WM.  L.  MORRIS,  Jr., 
WM.  B.  DINSMORE, 
CLARKSON  CROLIUS, 
G.  H.  STRIKER, 
SAMUEL  ROGERS, 
HENRY  B.  COOK, 
J.  J.  KELLY, 


ELIJAH  F.  PURDY, 
ROBERT  SMITH, 
WILLIAM  DODGE, 
J.  C.  BURNHAM, 
JAMES  CONNER, 
ADAM  P.  PENTZ, 
JOHN  W.  STYLES, 
ROBERT  B.  BOYD, 
JOHN  T.  OGDEN, 
ERASTUS  GROVER, 
WM.  H.  UNDERHILL, 
SYLVANUS  S.  WARD, 
Dr.  H.  F.  QUACKENBOSS, 
RUFUS  E.  CRANE, 
JAMES  ACKERMAN, 
G.  H.  LYNCH, 
JORDAN  MOTT, 
R.  H.  SHANNON. 


197 


0bg£()t(ies  of 


The  procession  will  move^from  the  Park,  at  3  P.  M., 
precisely,  and  will  proceed  down  Broadway,  around  the 
Park  to  Chatham  street,  through  Chatham  street  to  the 
Bowery,  up  the  Bowery  and  Fourth  avenue  to  Union 
square  ;  around  Union  square  to  Broadway,  and  down 
Broadway  to  the  Park,  in  front  of  the  City  Hall,  on  pass- 
ing which  point  each  division  will  be  under  the  orders  of 
its  respective  Marshal. 

The  solemnities  at  the  Hall,  at  the  close  of  the  proces- 
sion, will  be  as  follows  : 

1.  Prayer  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  JOHN  M.  KREBS. 

2.  Funeral  Oration,  by  N.  B.  BLUNT,  Esq. 

3.  Benediction  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  BENJAMIN  J.  HAIGHT. 

The  arrangements  of  the  day  will  be  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  Grand  Marshal. 

The  several  persons  having  charge  of  the  church  and 
fire  alarm  bells  in  the  city,  are  requested  to  cause  the 
same  to  be  tolled,  from  the  hour  of  3  o'clock,  p.  M.,  until 
the  close  of  the  procession. 

The  owners  and  masters  of  vessels  in  the  harbor,  and 
the  proprietors  of  the  various  public  buildings  in  the  city, 
are  requested  to  display  their  colors  at  half  mast,  from 
sunrise  to  sunset. 

It  is  also  respectfully  requested,  that  our  fellow-citizens 
close  their  several  places  of  business  during  the  moving 
of  the  procession. 

They  are  also  requested,  whether  in  the  procession  or 
not,  to  wear  the  usual  badge  of  mourning  on  the  left  arm. 

198 


The  several  orders,  societies,  associations,  trades,  and 
other  bodies,  are  requested  to  assemble  at  such  places  as 
they  may  respectively  select,  and  repair  to  the  places  of 
rendezvous,  by  2  o'clock,  p.  M. 

The  different  divisions,  in  the  following  programme,  will 
be  designated  by  a  white  banner,  with  the  appropriate 
number  of  each  in  black. 


ORDER  OF   PROCESSION. 

jfirst  Dinisintt. 

TROOP  OF  CAVALRY,  as  escort  to  the  Grand  Marshal, 
Under  command  of  Capt.  JOSHUA  A.  YARIAN. 

S.u). 

GENERAL  WILLIAM  HALL, 

GRAND  MARSHAL. 


Col.  JOHN  "W.  AVERT, 
Major  JAMES  CONNER, 
JOHN  J.  Cisco,  Esq., 


Col.  WILLIAM  DODGE, 
FREEMAN  CAMPBELL,  Esq., 
JAMES  F.  HALL,  Esq. 


SPECIAL  AIDS. 


Jfirst  gjtoisiffii, 


0rfe  State    lilitia. 


Including  the  Military  Corps  from  other  cities,  and  the 
whole  under  the  command  of 

MAJOR  GENERAL  CHARLES  W,  SANDFORD, 
As  a  military  escort,  in  reverse  order. 


Division  Inspector Colonel  WETMORE. 

Division  Judge  Advocate. .  ..Colonel  WARD. 

199 


Obsequies  of 


Division  Engineer Colonel  MORELL. 

Division  Quartermaster Lieut.  Colonel  SANDFORD. 

Division  Paymaster Major  BIBBY. 

Aid-de-Camps Majors  TOMES  and  SCHENCK. 

Volunteer  do Majors  RICHARDS  and  KANE. 

Division  Hospital  Surgeon.. Dr.  L.  A.  SAYRE. 
Division  Assistant    do.       .  .Dr.  WOODWARD. 

THE  HUDSON  BRIGADE  OF  HOBOKEN, 
Under  the  command  of  General  E.  V.  R.  WRIGHT. 

Aid-de-Camp Major  HARRISON,  ;  Highwood  Guard Capt.  BROWER, 

Wash'n  Volunteers.  .Capt.  SPEAR, 

Wright  Rifles :     "      RILEY, 

Jer.  City  Continentals  "      POLLARD, 


National  Guard "     TUTHILL, 

Hoboken  Rifles "     NEIMAN, 

"Washington  Blues "      HARRIS. 


FOURTH  BRIGADE, 

Commanded  by  Brigadier  General  JOHN  EWEN. 

Brigade  Major ROBERT  TAYLOR,    '    Quartermaster H.  EAGLE, 

Judge  Advocate N.  B.  LA  BAU.  Paymaster G.  A.  SMITH, 

Aid-de-Camp E.  LK  GAL,  Engineer E.  J.  HAWLEY. 

Volunteer  Aid-de-Camp JOHN  II.  ABRAHAM. 


SIXTY-NINTH  REGIMENT, 


Colonel CHARLES  S.  ROE, 

Lieut.  Colonel.  .MICHAEL  DOHE.NY, 

Major JAMES  C.  McBiRNEY, 

Quartermaster.. J.  C.  O'BYRNE, 
Assis't  Surgeon..  W.  M.  GILES, 

Company  A Captain  LEONARD, 

"        B "     NEWMAN, 


Company  C Captain  McCouRT, 


TOBIN, 
RYAN, 
GORMAN, 
GREKX, 

Jl'DGE, 
COAKLEY. 


Company  K Captain  HINCHMAN. 

200 


i**'- 

TWELFTH   REGIMENT, 


Colonel HENRY  G.  STEBBINS, 

Lieut.  Colonel..  .E.  B.  HART, 

Adjutant J.  B.  STEARNS, 

Paymaster F.  W.  COOLIDGE, 

Quartermaster  . .  .T.  C.  FIELDS, 

Surgeon A.  BURDETT, 

Engineer J.  LIVINGSTON, 

Chaplain J.  T.  DALY, 

Sergeant  Major.  .C.  CARNES, 

New  York  Riflemen 

*  This  Company  paraded  ns  Guard  of  Honor  to  the  fui 


Light  Guard* Capt. 

Garde  Lafayette ..  " 

Independ.  Guards.  " 

Lafay'e  Fusileers. .  " 

xter  Blues " 

City  Blues " 

City  Musketeers..  " 

Tompkins  Blues. ..  " 

Baxter  Guard " 


VINCENT, 

LECLERC, 

CAIRNS, 

FRENCH, 

WATERBURY, 

JOHNSON, 

PALMER, 

BESSON, 

DYCKMAN, 


.  Captain  JOHNSON. 


ELEVENTH  REGIMENT, 


Lieut.  Colonel.  .JAS.  H.  WATERHOUSE, 

Major D.  C.  HYDE, 

Adjutant S.  R.  PINCKNEY, 

Paymaster KE  YSER, 

Surgeon DR.  VAN  CORT, 

Engineer H.  ROBINSON, 

Chaplain STEWART, 

City  Guards Captain  McARDLE, 


Continentals Capt.  HELM, 


Irish  Am.  Guards..  •' 

Montgomery    "   ..  " 

City  Rifles " 

"Wash'ton  Guards. .  " 

State  Rifles " 

National  Riflemen.  " 

Brigade  Lancers.. .  " 


BRADY, 

MURPHY, 

TANGIER, 

RINGHAUSEX, 

VAN  VULTY, 

ELLIS, 

CLANCEY. 


TENTH  REGIMENT, 


Colonel W.  HALSEY, 

Lieut.   Colonel THOMAS  JONES, 

Major G.  J.  SMITH, 

Adjutant HENRY  A.  SMITH, 

Paymaster E.  M.  DODGE, 

Quartermaster THOS.  E.  SMITH, 

Company  A Capt.  W.  HUSEN, 


Company  B Capt.  JACHRLING, 

C "     FANTH, 

"        D Lieut.  WILLETS, 

"        E Capt.  MCGRATH, 

"        F "     DODGE, 

"        G "     WARREN, 

"        H "     BECHER, 


Artillery — National  Grays Capt.  RAYNOR. 

201 


i 


THIRD    BRIGADE, 
Commanded  by  Col.  B.  C.  FERRIS. 


Act'g  Brigade  Maj.GEO.  W.  SMITH, 

Surgeon H.  J.  QUACKENBOSS, 

Judge  Advocate. . .  J.  J.  LEROCQUE, 
Engineer E.  W  LEAVITT, 


Brigade  Paymaster J.  R.  SMITH, 

Brigade  Quartermaster.  G.  HARRIOT, 
Assis't  Quartermaster.. SMITH, 
Aid-de-Camp J.  J.  NORTHOF 


NINTH  REGIMENT, 


Lieut.  Colonel.  ..CHARLES  SWEENEY, 

Major CHARLES  E.  SHEA, 

Adjutant J.  McDoNOUGH, 

Paymaster JOHN  COLGAN, 

Quartermaster. .  .T.  O'BRIEN, 

Surgeon W.  O'DONNELL,  M.D. 

Chaplain PETER  HOGG, 

Dragoons Capt.  KERRIGAN, 


Company  A Capt.  COFFEY, 


C.. 

D.. 

E.. 

F.. 

G. 

H., 

I... 


MACKEY, 

PHELAN, 

CAVANAGH, 

DALY, 

DOLAN, 

MURRAY, 

KELLY. 


EIGHTH  REGIMENT, 

Colonel THOMAS  F.  DE  YOE,    Chaplain 

Lieut.  Colonel MOSES  E.  CRASTO, 

Adjutant R.  P.  CLARK, 

Paymaster D.  V.  FREEMAN, 

Quartermaster J.  MATTHIESON, 

Surgeon's  Mate....  J.  AITKEN,  Jr., 

Engineer A.  WINHAM, 

CAVALRY. 
Company  I Capt.  PATTERSON,  |  Company  J 


Chaplain  

p.  TRAINOR 

Company    A  

.Capt.  LYONS, 

"        B  

.     "     MANDEVILLE, 

C.... 

.     "     FORSHAY, 

D  

.     "     LITTLE, 

"        E.... 

.     "     CHAMBERLIN, 

"        F  

.     "     QUIN, 

.  .Capt.  YARIAN, 


SEVENTH   REGIMENT, 

Colonel ABRAHAM  DURYEE, 

Lieut.  Colonel LEFFERTS, 

Acting  Adjutant..  .POND, 

Paymaster CARPENTER, 

Quartermaster. .  .  .ALLEN, 

Surgeon HIGGINS, 

Engineer LAUNITZ, 

Chaplain BRAINARD, 

Troop  of  Cavalry 

202 


Company  1 Capt.  PRESSINGZR, 

"        2 "  SHALER, 

"        3 "  PRICE, 

"  4 "  RlBLET, 

"        5 "  CREIGHTON, 

"        6 "  NEVKRS, 

<;        7 "  MONROE, 

"        8 "  SHT;MWAY, 


SECOND    BRIGADE, 
Commanded  by  Col.  ANDBEW  WARNER. 


Major  and  Inspector.  .ROBERT  H.  BOYD, 

Judge  Advocate WM,  H.  PAINE, 

Hospital  Surgeon ALEX.  B.  MOTT, 

Engineer B.  E,  MANIERRE, 


Quartermaster.  .STEPHEN  PAUL, 

Paymaster WILLIAM  MATTHEWS, 

Aid-de-Camp ..  .JAMES  L.  DAYTON, 
Volunteer  "... .GEO.  H.  PENNIMAN, 


SIXTH  REGIMENT, 


Colonel THOMAS  F.  PEEKS, 

Lieut,  Colonel  —  J.  G,  WELLSTOOD, 

Adjutant WILLIAM  CHALMERS, 

Surgeon JAMES  ALCOCK, 

Surgeon's  Mate. .  .WM.  W,  JACKSON, 

Quartermaster CHARLES  HARRISON, 

Paymaster MARK  LEVY, 

Engineer J .  M.  TRIMBLE, 


Company  A Capt.  CORDELL, 


ELLIS, 

SEUFERT, 

ALLAIRE, 

PlNCKNEY, 

FINCH, 
LALOR, 
GREGORY. 


FIFTH   REGIMENT, 


Lieut.  Colonel.. U.  SCHWALZWAELDER, 

Major. . . . OTTO  KLOPPENBURGH, 

Adjutant FRED.  ESENWEIN, 

Surgeon FRANCIS  MILLER, 

Surgeon's  Mate. FRANCIS  H.  Loss, 
Quartermaster.. II.  FUNKE, 

Paymaster HENRY  A.  CASSENEER, 

Engineer HENRY  RANCH, 


FOURTH   REGIMENT, 


Colonel CHARLES  YATES, 

Lieut.  Colonel ED.  C.  CHARLES, 

Major DAN.  W.  TELLER, 

Adjutant NATHANIEL  COLES, 

Quartermaster JAMES  F.  Cox, 

Paymaster, W.  H.  GUNTHER, 

Surgeon's  Mate BEZALEEL  HOWE, 

Engineer THEO.  TIMPSON, 

Chaplain J.  REN  WICK,  Jr. 


Company  A Capt.  WESTFALL, 

"  B "    HEITMAN, 

"  C "    FINCKE, 

"  D "     BAACD, 

"  E Lieut.  DOIIRMAN, 

"  F Capt.  ROTTGIER, 

"  G "    BETJEMANN, 

H "      EWALD. 


Louis, 

LUERSSON, 

ARENT. 

FERBER, 
FINK, 
FORBES, 
FAY, 


CAVALRY. 

Company  A,  Hussars,  Capt. 

"  B,  "  " 

"        C,  Dragoons    " 

ARTILLERY. 

Company  B  ...........  Capt. 

"        C  ..........     " 

"        D  ...........     " 

E  ..........     " 

F  ..........     " 


203 


FIRST    BRIGADE, 
Commanded  by  Brigadier  General  CHAS.  B.  SPICER. 

Brigade  Major  .....  CHARLES  H.  SMITH,  |    Engineer  .........  JOHN  BROUGHAM, 

Judge  Advocate  ...  Lucius  PITKIN,  Paymaster  ........  CHARLES  F.  WOOD, 

Hospital  Surgeon.  .HOMER  BOSTWICK,         Aid-de-Camp  .....  DAN'L  H.  SPICER, 

Voluntary  Aid-de-Camp  .............  C.  J.  GUILLEMOT. 


THE    SEPARATE    BATTALION, 


Major F.  L.  HAGADORN, 

Adjutant,  Acting.. M.  TOMPKINS,  JR., 

Quartermaster JOHN  LAWRENCE, 

Paymaster W.  HAGADORN,  JR., 

Surgeon C.  BRUENINGHAUSEN, 

Surgeon's  Mate. . .  JOHN  E.  GALLAER. 


Company  A Capt.  BLAKE, 


MEYER, 
O'BRIEN, 
KAPPES, 
BLAKE. 


SEVENTY-FIRST  REGIMENT, 


Colonel A.  S.  VOSBURGH, 

Lieut.  Colonel W.  P.  MOODY, 

Major S.  S.  PARKER, 

Quartermaster P.  J.  PARESEN, 

Paymaster HENRY  W.  FISHER, 

Chaplain GEO.  W.  WARNER, 

Engineer  and  Adj't..T.  B.  JOHNSTON. 


Company  A Capt.  HAGADORN, 


B... 

C... 

D.. 

E... 

F.. 


WHEELER, 

LITTLE, 

SMITH, 

WOODWORTH, 

GLOVER. 


THIRD    REGIMENT, 

Lieut.  Colonel WM.  MENCK,  Company  B Capt.  BRISER, 

Major : C.MARTIN, 

Adjutant E.  LYON, 

Paymaster JOHN  FINCK, 

Quartermaster PHILIP  ZEIGER, 

Surgeon J.  P.  MUM  FORD, 

Engineer F.  DICKEL, 

Chaplain S.  STANFIELD, 

Company  A Capt.  DUCKER, 


C 

D 

E 

F 

G 

H 

I. 
K... 


\Vl   liliKNHORST, 

FROELICK, 

ROTTMAN, 

MEYER, 

BECHTEL, 

KELLER, 

WICTHEN, 

HERF. 


Lieut.  Colonel  ......  JOSEPH  CRAIG, 

Major  ..............  J.  "W,  BRAISTED, 

Adjutant  ............  JOHN  RAY, 

Paymaster  ..........  S.  A.  DARLING, 

Quartermaster  ......  JAMES  BECK, 

Chaplain  ...........  JAMES  FRAZEU, 

Surgeon  ............  WM.  BECK, 

Assis't  Surgeon  .....  JAMES  F.  FRAZER, 

Engineer  ........  ....  JOSIAH  P.  KNAPP. 


SECOND  REGIMENT, 


Colonel JOHN  A.  BOGART,       Company  A Capt,  CASTLE, 


1st  Comp.  Gov,  Blues 


EAGLESON, 

DARROW, 

JOHNSON, 

McKENZIE 

MANSON, 
LUTZ, 
ROBERT, 
CASSALIER 


FIRST    REGIMENT. 


Colonel JOHN 

Major WM.  FORSYTHE, 

Adjutant ISAAC  C .  HUNT, 

Paymaster A.  HAGENLORKER, 

Quartermaster S.  B.  RYER, 

Surgeon H.  TRAPHAGEN. 


Company  A Capt.  KOEN, 

"        B "    RASCHE. 

"       C "    STORMS, 

"        D "    KENNEDY, 

"        E "    LUBEC 


f  tmfc  9iiimt. 

Gen.  WM.  L.  MORRIS,  Aid  to  Grand  Marshal. 

Col.  JOHN  B.  MONTGOMERY, 
WILLIAM  MORRIS,  Jr.,  Esq., 


Officiating  Clergymen, 

Orator  of  the  Day, 

In  carriages. 

205 


DRAWN  BY  EIGHT  GRAY  HORSES,  APPROPRIATELY  CAPARISONED. 

LIGHT  GUARD,  CAPTAIN  VINCENT, 

AS  A  GUARD   OF   HONOR. 

*  The  funeral  car  was  of  magnificent  design,  and  neatly  executed,  by  EDWARD 
H.  SENIOR,  Esq.  It  was  constructed  in  the  form  of  a  temple,  upon  a  scale  of 
massive  grandeur,  and  presented  a  mournfully  gorgeous  appearance.  It  was 
nearly  square,  and  stood  about  fifteen  feet  high.  Upon  a  raised  centre,  on  the 
platform,  was  a  large  gilt  urn,  of  classic  mould,  bearing  the  simple  inscription — 
"  HENRY  CLAY,"  and  overhung  with  crape,  supported  from  the  beak  of  a  splendidly 
carved  gilt  eagle,  representing  America  protecting  the  ashes  of  her  beloved  son. 
At  each  corner  of  the  car,  a  tapering  Corinthian  column,  wrapped  in  crape,  sup- 
ported the  canopy.  Upon  the  top  of  the  canopy,  a  dais  of  sky  blue  velvet,  en- 
twined with  black  satin,  and  trimmed  with  gold  lace  and  stars,  Supporting  an 
American  eagle  in  a  drooping  position,  emblematical  of  the  Nation's  grief.  The 
whole  ear  was  surrounded  with  evergreens,  and  a  chaplet  of  the  same  was  thrown 
around  the  urn.  The  national  banner,  heavily  shrouded  with  funereal  draperies, 
and  half  furled  around  the  flag  staff,  occupied  each  corner,  their  folds  forming  a 
fitting  shroud  for  the  urn  within.  The  skirting  of  the  whole  drapery  was  con- 
trastingly ornamented  with  heavy  gold  bullion.  To  the  rear  part  of  the  car  was 
attached  a  banner  of  white  silk,  upon  which  the  following  inscription,  beautifully 
embroidered  in  black  silk,  appeared: 

"  Hearts  which  glow  for  freedom's  sway, 
Come  and  mourn  for  HENRY  CLAY." 
206 


i 


f!>(   ite»Kjj  CUjj. 


The  following  gentlemen  were  selected  as  Pall-Bearers 


A.  R.  LAWRENCE, 
JAMES  KELLY, 
ISAAC  NEWTON, 
JOHN  BOBBINS, 
ROBERT  HYSLOP, 
JACOB  BELL, 
J.  A.  WESTERVELT, 
ANTHONY  COMPTON, 
WILLIS  HALL, 
GIDEON  OSTRANDER, 
WILLIAM  SMITH, 
HENRY  SHAW, 
JOHN  DIMON, 
ANDREW  MILLS, 
WILLIAM  B.  ASTOR, 
W.  F.  HAVEMEYEB, 
THOMAS  OWEN, 


GILBERT  CLELAND, 
G.  H.  STRIKER, 
GEORGE  LAW, 
C.  W.  LAWRENCE, 
1).  AUSTIN  Mum, 
FREDERICK  PENTZ, 
MICHAEL  ULSHCEFFER, 
JAMES  HARPER, 
ROBERT  H.  MORRIS, 
PETER  COOPER, 
THOMAS  O' CONOR, 
STEPHEN  ALLEN, 
ALEX.  STEWART, 
JEREMIAH  DODGE,, 
C.  S.  WOODHULL, 
ISAAC  M.  PHYFE. 
J.  PHILLIPS  PHCENIX, 


W.  N.  BLAKEMAN. 

Mayors  of  New  York,  Brooklyn,  Williamsburgh,  Jersey 

City  and  Newark. 

The  Common  Councils  of  the  cities  of  New  York,  Phila- 
delphia, Brooklyn,  Williamsburgh,  Jersey  City, 
Newark,  Paterson  and  adjoining  cities, 
in  the  following  order  : 

The  Board  of  Aldermen, 

Preceded  by  their  Sergeant-at-Arms,  and  headed  by  their 
President. 

The  Board  of  Assistant  Aldermen, 

Preceded  by  their  Sergeant-at-Arms,  and  headed  by  their 
President. 


of 


Officers  of  both  Boards. 
Committee  of  the  Common  Council  of  the  City  of 

Philadelphia. 

Common  Council  of  the  City  of  Brooklyn. 
Officers  of  the  Common  Council  of  the  City  of  Brooklyn. 
Mayor  and  Common  Council  of  the  City  of  Williamsburgh, 

with  their  officers. 
The  Common  Council  of  Jersey  City,  with  their  Clerks, 

Marshal,  and  others. 
The  Common  Council  of  the  City  of  Newark,  with  their 

Clerk  and  other  officers. 
Committee  on  the  part  of  the  village  of  Jamaica. 

Ex-Presidents  of  the  United  States. 
His  Excellency  Governor  Hunt  and  Suite. 

Heads  of  Departments  of  the  State. 

Senate  and  Assembly  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

Members  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of 

the  United  States. 
The  Commanding  Officer  of  the  First  United  States  Mili- 

tary District,  and  his  Aids. 

Officers  of  the  Army  of  the  United  States. 

Commodore  W.  D.  Salter,  Commander  of  the  Navy  Yard 

and  Station  of  New  York,  with  the  Officers  of  the 

Navy  of  the  United  States,  and  Civic 

Officers  of  the  Navy  Yard. 
New  York  State  Society  of  the  Cincinnati. 

£jjirlr  Dinisinn. 

Col.  JOHN  W.  STYLES,  Aid  to  Grand  Marshal. 
MEDAD  PLATT,  Esq.,  Aid. 


Ex-Members  of  Congress  and  of  the  State  Legislatures. 

208 


Ex-Mayors,  ex-Aldermen  and  Assistants  of  the  cities  of 

New  York,  Brooklyn  and  other  cities. 
Heads  of  Departments  and  Officers  of  the  City  Government. 

Foreign  Ministers  and  Consuls. 

Judges  of  the  United  States,  State  and  City  Courts. 

District  Attorney.  Members  of  the  Bar. 

Members  of  the  Press. 
Sheriff,  Under-Sheriff  and  Deputies  of  the  City  of 

New  York. 
Register,  County  Clerk  and  Coroner  of  the  City  of  New 

York,  with  their  officers. 

Police  Magistrates,  with  staves. 

Marshal  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern  District  of 

New  York,  with  his  Deputies  and  other  Officers. 

United  States  District  Attorney,  Collector  of  the  Port  of 

New  York,  with  the  Clerks  and  other  Officers  of 

his  Department,  Surveyor,  Naval  Officer, 

and   other   officers  connected 

with  their  Department. 
Postmaster  of  the  City  of  New  York,  with  his  Secretary, 

Assistant  and  Clerks. 
The  Board  of  Education  of  the  City  of  New  York, 

Preceded  by  its  President  and  Clerk. 
President,  Trustees,  Faculty  and  Students  of 

Columbia  College. 
President,  Council,  Faculty  and  Students  of  University  of 

New  York. 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons. 

Young  Men's  Debating  Society. 
New  York  Academy  of  Medicine. 

New  York  Medical  Society  and  Physicians  and  Students. 
Teachers  and  Pupils  of  Grammar  School  of 

14  20!) 


0bse()qies  of 


Columbia  College  and  University. 
Professors  of  the  Free  Academy,  with  Pupils  of  the  same. 

College  of  Pharmacy. 

New  York  Historical  Society. 

United   States   Naval   Lyceum. 

National  Academy  of  Design. 

Engineers'  Institute. 

Chamber  of  Commerce. 

General  Society  of  Mechanics  and  Tradesmen. 

American  Institute. 

Mechanics'  Institute,  Officers  and  Members. 
The  several  Printers'  Societies  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

Board  of  Trade. 
Masters,  Wardens  and  Harbor  Masters  of  the 

Port  of  New  York. 

Pilots  of  the  Port  of  New  York. 

Members  of  the  Industrial  Congress. 

Teachers'  Association. 
Teachers  and  Pupils  of  the  several  Public,  Ward  and 

Private  Schools. 

President,    Superintendent,    Officers    and    Pupils   of  the 

Deaf  and  Dumb,  and  Blind  Institutions. 

Veterans  of  1812,  in  carriages. 

|nurtlj  Dhisinit. 

Col.  A.  A.  BREMXER,  Aid  to  Grand  Marshal. 
S.  S.  WARD,  Esq.,  Aid. 


Civic   Societies   of  the   cities  of  Brooklyn,  Jersey  City, 


Newark,  Williamsburgh,  Paterson  and  Newburgh. 
Civic  Societies  of  adjoining  Cities. 


ADAM  P.  PENTZ,  Esq.,  Aid  to  Grand  Marshal. 
HENRY  B.  COOK,  Esq.,  Aid. 


Firemen  of  Brooklyn,  Jersey  City,  "Williamsburgh,  and 
other  cities  and  villages. 

Exempt  Firemen. 
Fire  Department  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

iiitjr  Dinisinit. 

Capt.  WM.  H.  UNDERBILL,  Aid  to  Grand  Marshal. 
JOHN  T.  OGDEN,  Esq.,  Aid. 


Grand  Lodge,  State  of  New  York,  Free  and  Accepted 
Masons.* 


f  mtitl;  Sinifiinn. 

ELIJAH  F.  PURDY,  Esq.,  Aid  to  Grand  Marshal. 
ROBERT  SMITH,  Esq.,  Aid  to  Grand  Marshal. 


Young  Men's  Democratic 
General  Committee. 


Young  Men's  "Whig  General 
Committee. 


*  This  Division  presented  an  imposing  appearance,  the  different  orders  marching 
with  appropriate  banners,  each  member  wearing  the  insignia  of  his  order,  with  a 
rich  mourning  badge  on  the  left  arm.  The  whole  fraternity  was  escorted  by  a 
large  body  of  Knights  Templar?,  mounted,  and  dressed  in  the  splendid  military 
costume,  incident  to  their  order,  and  the  days  of  chivalry  and  the  crusades.  An 
interesting  and  most  valuable  relic  was  carried  by  the  St.  Johns'  Lodge,  No.  1. 
This  wns  the  Bible  which  was  used  by  Chancellor  ROBERT  R.  LIVINGSTON,  in  ad- 
ministering the  first  oath  of  office  to  Gen.  GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  as  President  of 
the  United  States,  in  1789.  It  is  only  used  on  the  most  solemn  occasions,  and 
was  brought  out  to-day  in  honor  to  the  illustrious  HENRY  CLAY,  who  was  an  hon- 
orary member  of  the  lodge.  A  detachment  of  Washington  Continentals  acted  as 
guard  of  honor,  in  their  uniform,  the  same  as  that  worn  by  the  Father  of  his  Country. 

211 


Democratic  Whig  General      Democratic  Republican  Gen. 

Committee.  Committee. 

Whig  General  Committee  of  the  City  of  Williamsburgh. 

Society  of  Tammany,  or  Columbian  Order. 

Clay  Clubs  of  Newburgh. 

Clay  Festival  Association. 

Young  Guard  Henry  Clay  Association. 

Central  Clay  Committee  of  1844. 

Various  Clay  Clubs  of  the  City  and  County  of  New  York. 
Eighth  Ward  Scott  Legion. 

(£igl;tlj  Dtnision. 

WM.  T.  CHILD,  Esq.,  Aid  to  Grand  Marshal. 
JAMES  ACKERMAN,  Esq.,  Aid. 


Order  of  United  Americans. 

IHiitl;  Dtnisinir. 

Col.  ROBERT  B.  BOYD,  Aid  to  Grand  Marshal. 
J.  J.  KELLY,  Esq.,  Aid. 


Butchers'  Association  of  the  cities  of  New  York,  Brooklyn, 
Jersey  City,  Williamsburgh,  and  other 

cities  and  villages,  mounted. 
Cartmen's  Association  of  the  city  of  New  York,  mounted. 


Col.  J.  C.  BURNHAM,  Aid  to  Grand  Marshal 
Dr.  H.  F.  QUACKENBOSS,  Aid. 


Gold  and  Silver  Artisans. 

Protestant  Association. 
Omnibus  Proprietors'  Mutual  Association. 


Dinisintt. 

SAMUEL  OSGOOD,  Esq.,  Aid  to  Grand  Marshal. 
ERASTUS  GROVER,  Esq.,  Aid. 


Grand  Division  Sons  of  Temperance. 

Cadets  of  Temperance. 

Independent  Order  of  Rechabites. 

Roman  Catholic  Temperance  Society. 

Shamrock  Benevolent  Society. 

ftudftjj  Dinisinti. 

WILLIAM  DINSMORE,  Esq.,  Aid  to  Grand  Marshal. 
JOHN  A.  BUNTING,  Esq.,  Aid. 


Tailors'  Societies. 

Employees  of  the  Express  Establishments,  with 
Express  Wagons,  decorated. 


Dinisinn. 

RUFUS  E.  CRANE,  Esq.,  Aid  to  Grand  Marshal. 
GEORGE  H.  E.  LYNCH,  Esq.,  Aid. 


Whitehall  Association. 

Eureka  Association,  and  the  various  Benevolent  Societies 
of  the  city  of  New  York. 


213 


Dbisinti. 

GARRET  H.  STRIKER,  Esq.,  Aid  to  Grand  Marshal. 
JORDAN  MOTT,  Esq.,  Aid. 


Citizens  of  Fifth  and  other  Wards. 


/iftmitl;  Bhisioit. 

SAMUEL  ROGERS,  Esq.,  Aid  to  Grand  Marshal. 
CLARKSON  CROLIUS,  Esq.,  Aid. 


Mechanics'  Societies. 


ORDER  OF  ARRANGEMENTS. 

The  Societies,  Associations  and  Trades,  are  requested  to 
appear  in  the  order  prescribed,  and  to  walk  six  abreast. 

Bands  will  play  Funeral  Dirges  in  common  time. 

Such  societies  and  associations  as  have  not  yet  reported, 
will  be  assigned  places  in  the  order  in  which  they  shall 
report  themselves  to  the  Grand  Marshal. 

No  banner  bearing  political  devices  or  inscriptions  will 
be  admitted  in  the  procession. 

The  First  Division  of  New  York  State  Militia,  and  the 
civic  societies,  will  assemble  at  two  o'clock,  precisely,  at  the 
following  places,  preparatory  to  being  brought  into  column: 

The  Division  of  Militia  in  Broadway,  left  resting  on 
Chambers  street. 

Officiating  Clergymen,  Orator  of  the  Day,  the  Clergy 
and  Pall-Bearers,  in  the  Governor's  room. 

Mayors  of  the  several  cities,  and  ex-Presidents,  Foreign 
Ministers  and  Consuls,  in  the  Mayor's  office. 

214 


Common  Councils  of  New  York,  Brooklyn,  Jersey  City, 
Newark,  Williamsburgh,  and  the  Trustees  of  the  villages 
of  Hoboken  and  Jamaica,  together  with  their  officers,  in 
room  No.  8,  City  Hall. 

Governors,  Lieutenant-Governors,  Heads  of  Depart- 
ments, Members  of  the  Senate  and  Assembly,  Senators  and 
Members  of  Congress,  in  the  Governor's  room. 

Society  of  Cincinnati,  Revolutionary  Soldiers,  ex-Mayors, 
ex-Members  of  the  Common  Council,  and  Heads  of  Depart- 
ments of  the  City  Government,  in  the  Library  room. 

Officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  in  the  Keeper's  room. 

Veterans  of  1812,  in  carriages  in  Murray  street. 

Judges  of  the  Courts,  District  Attorney,  Members  of  the 
Bar,  ex-Members  of  Congress,  in  the  Law  Library  room, 
new  City  Hall. 

Sheriff  and  his  Deputies,  in  Sheriff's  office. 

County  Clerk,  Register  and  Coroner,  with  their  officers 
and  the  Police  Magistrates  in  the  County  Clerk's  office. 

United  States  District  Attorney,  United  States  Marshal 
and  his  Deputies,  Collector  and  Surveyor  of  the  Port, 
Naval  Officer,  Postmaster,  and  the  Officers  connected  with 
their  several  Departments,  in  the  United  States  Court. 

Civic  Societies  of  Brooklyn,  Newark,  Williamsburgh, 
Paterson  and  other  places,  in  Park  place. 

President,  Trustees,  Council,  Faculties  and  Students  of 
Columbia  College,  and  of  the  University,  in  the  Supreme 
Court  room,  new  City  Hall. 

Medical  Societies  and  Students,  College  of  Pharmacy, 
Historical  Society,  United  States  Naval  Lyceum,  National 
Academy  of  Design,  Board  of  Trade,  Masters,  Wardens, 
Harbor  Masters  and  Pilots  of  the  Port,  American  Institute, 
Mechanics'  Institute,  in  the  Superior  Court,  new  City  H.,  1. 

215 


of 


Officers  and  Pupils  of  Blind,  and  Deaf  and  Dumb  Insti- 
tutions, in  office  of  Commissioner  of  Repairs  and  Supplies, 
new  City  Hall. 

Other  Associations,  and  gentlemen  of  the  Third  Division, 
rear  of  City  Hall. 

Fourth  Division,  Park  place,  front  resting  on  Broadway. 

Fifth  Division,  in  Grand  street,  east  of  Broadway,  front 
resting  on  Broadway. 

Sixth  Division,  in  Grand  street,  west  of  Broadway,  front 
resting  on  Broadway. 

Seventh  Division,  in  Howard  street,  west  of  Broadway, 
front  resting  on  Broadway. 

Eighth  Division,  in  Canal  street,  east  of  Broadway,  front 
resting  on  Broadway. 

Ninth  Division,  in  Canal  street,  west  of  Broadway,  front 
resting  on  Broadway. 

Tenth  Division,  in  Lispenard  street,  front  resting  on 
Broadway. 

Eleventh  Division,  in  "Walker  street,  west  of  Broadway, 
front  resting  on  Broadway. 

Twelfth  Division,  in  White  street,  west  of  Broadway, 
front  resting  on  Broadway. 

Thirteenth  Division,  in  Franklin  street,  west  of  Broad- 
way, front  resting  on  Broadway. 

Fourteenth  Division,  in  Leonard  street,  east  of  Broad- 
way, front  resting  on  Broadway. 

Fifteenth  Division,  in  Leonard  street,  west  of  Broadway, 
front  resting  on  Broadway. 

The  closing  ceremonies,  consisting  of  the  Prayer,  Ora- 
tion and  Benediction,  will  take  place  on  the  esplanade,  in 
front  of  the  City  Hall. 

The  troops  of  the  United  States,  stationed  at  the  differ- 

210' 


ent  posts  in  this  harbor,  are  requested  to  fire  minute-guns, 
from  noon  till  sunset. 

The  Veteran  Corps  will  fire  minute-guns,  from  the  Bat- 
tery, during  the  procession. 

The  carriages  for  the  use  of  the  Pall-Bearers,  and  Socie- 
ty of  the  Cincinnati  and  Revolutionary  soldiers,  will  be 
under  the  direction  of  ASHER  TAYLOR,  First  Marshal  of 
the  city. 

The  owners  and  proprietors  of  all  public  and  licensed 
carriages  and  vehicles,  are  directed  to  withdraw  the  same 
from  the  streets  through  which  the  procession  is  to  pass, 
after  the  hour  of  one  o'clock,  p.  M. 

The  Chief  of  Police  is  charged  with  the  enforcement  of 
the  above  order. 

The  owners  of  private  carriages  and  vehicles  are  also  re- 
spectfully requested  to  conform  with  the  wishes  of  the 
Committee  in  this  respect. 

Xo  obstruction  of  any  kind  will  be  permitted  in  the 
streets  through  which  the  procession  is  to  pass. 

WILLIAM  II.  CORNELL, 
WESLEY  SMITH, 
WILLIAM  J.  BRISLEY, 
WILLIAM  M.  TWEED, 
JAMES  M.  BARD, 
S.  L.  H.  WARD, 
JOHN  BOYCE, 
RICHARD  T.  COMPTON, 

Pres't. 

ISAAC  O.  BARKER, 
THOMAS  WOODWARD, 
JOHN  J.  TA1T, 
WILLIAM  ANDERSON, 
WILLIAM  II.  WRIGHT, 
S.  BENSON  McGOWN, 
J.  II.  VALENTINE, 
JONATHAN  TROTTER, 

Pres't.  J 
217 


Committee 

of  the 
Board  of  Aldermen. 


Committee  of  the 
>  Board  of 

I   Assistant  Aldermen. 


Cmntcnms  in  iju  Jjarlt. 

About  7  o'clock  the  head  of  the  procession  entered  the 
Park.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  funeral  car  in  front  of  the 
City  Hall,  it  received  the  honors  of  a  inarching  salute  from 
the  military,  as  they  filed  around  the  esplanade,  and  occu- 
pied the  entire  space  in  front  of  the  Hall.  Each  division 
as  it  passed  through  the  Park,  in  review,  was  dismissed, 
they  returning  to  their  respective  quarters. 

The  Common  Council,  with  his  Honor  the  Mayor,  the 
Orator  of  the  day,  the  officiating  Clergy,  the  Grand  Mar- 
shal and  his  Aids,  Invited  Guests,  Pall-Bearers,  Officers 
of  the  Army  and  Navy,  Officers  of  the  First  Division  New 

218 


it eo l\i| 


York  State  Militia,  Heads  of  Departments,  Veterans  of 
1812,  and  others,  occupied  the  platform.  The  Aids  to  the 
Grand  Marshal  and  the  Guard  of  Honor,  were  drawn  up  in 
line  in  front,  when  the  Grand  Marshal,  General  WILLIAM 
HALL,  introduced  the 

REV.    JOHN    M.    KREBS,   D.D., 

who  offered  up  the  following  impressive 


J)  raijer. 


o 

Hear 


0  GOD,  our  dwelling-place  in  all  generations.  By  Thee 
kings  reign  and  princes  decree  justice.  Thou  art  our  Lord. 
Thou  art  our  refuge.  In  grace  and  tenderness  hast  Thou 
ruled  us,  and  hast  made  the  lines  to  fall  to  us  in  pleasant 
places.  Thanks  to  Thy  name,  for  our  goodly  heritage. 
Thanks  for  Thy  mercies  to  our  fathers — for  their  wisdom, 
integrity  and  valor,  which  achieved  for  us  our  blessings; 
and  for  all  those  whom  Thou  hast  raised  up  to  guide  our 
counsels,  to  frame  and  to  administer  our  laws,  and  to  de- 
fend us  in  danger.  While  we,  this  day,  deplore  the  decease 
of  the  eminent  statesman  whose  prudent  counsel,  eloquent 
speech,  and  manifold  services  of  patriotism  were  Thy  gift 
to  our  country,  we  are  both  admonished  not  to  put  our 
trust  in  man,  whose  breath  is  in  his  nostrils,  and  are  en- 
couraged to  look  unto  the  hills  from  whence  all  our  help 
cometh.  When  Thou  with  rebukes  dost  correct  man  for 
iniquity,  Thou  makest  his  beauty  to  consume  like  the  moth. 
Surely  every  man  is  vanity.  The  princes  perish;  but  Thou, 

GOD,  art  our  stvong,  as  Thou  art  our  only,  confidence. 
Thou,  then,  our  prayer.  To  Thee,  and  to  the  word 

Thy  grace,  we  commend  her,  the  widowed  partner,  and 
family,*  whose  honored  head  Thou  hast  taken  away. 

219 


Q':isec)t|ie;s  of 


Comfort  them  with.  Thy  mercy,  which  is  in  JESUS  CHRIST 
Thy  Son,  our  Redeemer.  We  give  thanks  to  Thee,  that 
amid  the  temptations  of  a  public  life  so  laborious  and  so 
protracted,  Thou  wert  pleased  to  imbue  the  mind  of  our 
departed  fellow-citizen  with  Thy  saving  truth,  and  to  lead 
his  faith  to  the  Lamb  of  GOD,  the  sacrifice  for  our  sins; 
and  for  the  open  avowal  of  that  faith  in  Thine  earthly 
courts. 

We  thank  Thee  for  the  supporting  power  of  the  Gospel 
hope  which  he  enjoyed  in  his  dying  hour,  and  for  the  clear 
testimony  which,  living  and  dying,  he  bore  to  the  attraction 
and  the  exclusive  fitness  and  priceless  value  of  the  salvation 
of  the  Cross.  May  this  blessedness  be  the  portion  of  all 
who  mourn  his  death.  May  his  example  and  his  testimony 
not  be  lost  upon  our  rulers  and  our  statesmen,  nor  upon 
any  class  of  our  countrymen.  But  may  they  be  mindful, 
amid  all  the  aims  and  pursuits  of  life,  that  they  all  need 
for  themselves  that  personal  interest  in  CHRIST,  that  puri- 
fying trust  in  Him,  which  alone  shall  associate  them  with 
those  who  have  inherited  salvation,  and  shall  convey  to 
them  that  wisdom  and  righteousness  which  fit  men  to  bear 
rule  and  to  enjoy  freedom.  May  they  all  be  mindful  of 
their  accountability  to  Heaven.  Thus  bless  thy  servant, 
the  President  of  the  United  States — the  National  Congress, 
from  whom  Thou  hast  called  away  one  of  their  most  illus- 
trious members — our  governors,  legislators,  and  judges— 
our  counselors  and  advocates — the  Mayor  and  the  Com- 
mon Council  of  this  city,  who  have  ordered  these  solemn 
obsequies.  Death  has  come  to  teach  them  that  there  is 
One  higher  than  the  highest.  May  they  disdain  bribes 
and  hate  covetousncss;  may  they  consult  and  determine 
only  for  the  public  good;  for  their  country;  for  GOD;  for 

220 


it  t!>i)ri| 


truth;  may  they  be  just,  ruling  in  the  fear  of  GOD.  Give 
grace  to  our  people  that  they  may  ever  select  such  for 
office  and  authority;  and  so  may  we  all  lead  a  quiet  and 
peaceful  life  in  all  godliness  and  honesty.  And,  to  this 
end,  we  humbly  beseech  Thee,  both  forgive  and  allay  the 
bitterness  and  injuries  of  party  strife.  Our  shame,  and  our 
sin,  we  confess  this  day,  over  the  grave,  where  obloquy 
and  calumny  are  hushed;  where  political  animosity  is  re- 
buked, and  enmity  is  buried;  where  our  citizens  mingle 
their  praises  and  regrets  for  the  statesman  and  the  patriot, 
whom  we  all  have  lost. 

Extend  Thy  gracious  sway  and  Thy  protecting  arm  over 
this  land.  Be  Thou  its  glory  and  its  trust.  And  let  the 
saving  rule  of  Thine  Anointed  dispense  peculiar  blessings 
and  salvation  through  all  our  borders,  and  throughout  the 
world.  And,  now,  most  merciful  LORD  and  Savior,  grant 
unto  us  the  free  and  the  full  pardon  of  our  personal  and  of 
our  national  sins.  Teach  us  to  consider  our  latter  end, 
and  the  measure  of  our  days  what  it  is.  Eenew  our  hearts 
by  Thy  Holy  Spirit.  And  give  unto  us  all  grace,  that  we 
may  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  GOD;  and  die  the  death 
of  Thy  saints,  and  dwell  forever  with  the  LORD.  "We  ask 
it  all,  for  the  merits'  sake  of  JESUS  CHRIST,  our  Mediator 
and  Advocate.  Amen. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  prayer, 

DODWORTH'S    CORNET    BAND 

Performed  the  celebrated 

ilcpieni, 

From  MENDELSSOHN'S  Oratorio  of  ST.  PAUL.  After  Wiich, 
the  Grand  Marshal  introduced  to  the  vast  assemblage,  the 
Orator  of  the  day, 

221 


N.   BOWDITCH   BLUNT, 
Who  delivered,  in  a  most  impressive  manner,  the  following 

©rattan. 

HENRY  CLAY  is  dead! 

Such  was  the  startling  intelligence  which,  but  a  few  days 
since,  flashing  on  the  wings  of  the  lightning,  was  diffused 
throughout  the  entire  republic.  Commencing  with  a  ru- 
mor, at  whose  faintest  whisper  Senators  and  Representa- 
tives abandoned  the  halls  of  legislation,  it  burst  upon  the 
country  a  dread  reality.  The  statesman  heard  it  with  a 
thrill  of  awe;  the  politician  with  a  subdued  spirit;  the 
hum  of  business  was  hushed  in  the  crowded  mart;  the 
artisan  and  laborer  ceased  from  their  toil;  the  courts  of 
justice  were  closed;  the  husbandman  watered  the  furrows 
with  his  tears,  and  the  sailor,  looking  to  the  half  mast 
flag,  whispered  with  white  lips,  our  defender  is  dead. 
The  tolling  bell  and  booming  minute-gun,  proclaimed  the 
departure  of  a  mighty  spirit.  The  sombre  decorations  of 
funereal  show  betokened  the  darkness  and  gloom  of  the 
land.  All  felt  that  sorrow  and  grief  which  follows  the 
death  of  the  cherished  and  the  loved.  The  nation  mourned 
the  nation's  loss. 

There  is  a  fitness  in  such  manifestations.  They  give 
hope  and  encouragement  to  the  future,  for  they  teach  us 
that  however  transient  may  be  our  mortal  lingering,  men's 
deeds  live  after  them.  The  immortal  spirit  shall  not  die, 
and  the  genius,  the  eloquence,  and  the  patriotism  which 
inspired,  aroused  and  encouraged  his  compatriots,  still 
remain  in  the  fruits  of  his  efforts,  constituting  the  eternal 
monument  upon  which  is  inscribed  the  deathless  name  of 

HENKY  CLAY. 

222 


Ifcni\d  Gliitj. 


So  long  as  liberty  shall  endure;  so  long  as  the  history  of 
American  freedom  shall  exist;  in  every  clime,  and  wherever 
the  English  language  shall  be  spoken  or  read,  the  name  of 
the  great  American  Commoner  will  be  joined  with  the 
orators,  statesmen  and  patriots  of  past,  present  and  future 
ages. 

"  Ne'er  to  the  chambers,  where  the  mighty  rest, 
Since  their  foundation,  came  a  nobler  guest ; 
Nor  e'er  was  to  the  bowers  of  bliss  conveyed, 
A  fairer  spirit,  or  more  welcome  shade." 

The  cardinal  feature  of  our  form  of  government  is  that 
great  and  noble  principle  which  recognizes  equality  as  the 
basis  of  civil  right.  It  forms  the  corner-stone  of  our  po- 
litical fabric.  To  the  humble  youth  it  proclaims,  that 
wealth  and  honor  are  within  the  reach  of  all;  that  the 
child  of  the  poorest  native  of  the  soil  may  in  turn  become 
the  elective  chief  of  the  state;  that  fortune  and  fame 
depend  not  upon  hereditary  estate,  nor  ancestorial  pride; 
that  here,  man,  under  Providence,  is  the  architect  of  his 
own  character  and  position ;  and  that,  upon  himself,  and 
the  appropriate  use  of  the  talents  wherewith  GOD  has 
endowed  him,  rest  his  estimate  among  his  countrymen, 
and  his  responsibility  hereafter.  No  more  striking  illus- 
tration of  this  peculiar  character  of-  our  institutions  can 
be  found  than  he,  who,  from  the  humble  position  of  the 
"  Mill  Boy  of  the  Slashes,"  self-prompted  and  self-sustained, 
became  foremost  among  a  nation's  sons; 

"  Primus  inter  pares." 

Well  may  his  country  cherish  his  fame,  for  he  emphati- 
cally lived  for  his  country.  The  glare  of  military  achieve- 
ments, the  red  trophies  of  conquest,  the  blood-stained 
triumphs  of  the  warrior  belonged  not  to  him.  His  was 

223 


Obsequies  of 


the  proud  independence,  the  intellectual  power,  the  elo- 
quent fire,  before  which  the  haughtiest  quailed;  but  his 
acts  were  those  of  peace;  his  offerings  were  on  the  shrine 
of  liberty;  his  deeds  are  written  in  the  prosperity,  the 
progress  and  glory  of  his  country.  Nor  were  his  efforts 
in  behalf  of  human  freedom,  limited  by  his  country's 
bounds. 

"  Where  Greece  unsheathed  her  olden  blade 
For  glory  in  the  haunted  shade — 
Where  Chimborazo  stands  sublime 
A  landmark  by  the  sea  of  Time, 
His  name  shall,  as  a  blessing  given 

For  man,  Oh  !  never  to  depart, 
Peal  from  the  gladdened  earth  to  heaven 
The  warm,  wild  music  of  the  heart." 

HENRY  CLAY  is  no  more !  He  has  passed  the  fatal 
stream,  which  can  never  be  repassed  by  mortal.  The 
vital  spark  is  extinguished;  the  music  of  his  voice  is 
hushed.  Cold  and  silent  he  sleeps  the  sleep  that  knows 
no  earthly  waking. 

Reverently  we  acknowledge  this  dispensation  of  Divine 
Providence,  and,  as  we  bend  with  solemn  awe,  we  feel 
within  us  that  inspiration  which  teaches  us  there  is  an 
immortality  beyond  the  grave.  In  this  assurance  we  are 
comforted  with  the  reflection  that  he  died  in  Christian 
faith  and  with  a  Christian  hope;  and  we  involuntarily  ex- 
claim within  ourselves  "  may  our  last  end  be  like  his." 

Mr.  CLAY,  in  his  brief  review  of  the  character  of 
Chancellor  WYTHE,  has  furnished  the  key  to  his  own 
career.  Up  to  the  time  of  his  connection  with  this  illus- 
trious man,  we  know  him  only  as  the  boy,  an  epitome  of 
whose  previous  life  was  so  graphically  given  by  Mr.  ROBERT 
HUGHES,  at  Campbell  Court  House,  Virginia  :  "  He  and 

224 


|>  ifeijfij  6iqij. 


I  were  born  close  to  the  slashes  of  old  Hanover.  He 
worked  barefooted,  and  so  did  I.  He  went  to  mill,  and  so 
did  I.  He  was  good  to  his  mamma,  and  so  was  I."  His 
acquaintance  with  this  venerable  man  opened  a  new  field 
to  his  view.  Before  him  spread  the  broad  extent  of  legal 
study,  which,  in  those  times  especially,  served  to  appal  the 
faint-hearted  explorer,  while  it  infused  energy  and  vigor 
into  the  ardent  and  determined  mind.  Few  were  the 
opportunities  afforded  to  the  young  men  of  that  day.  The 
republic  was  yet  in  its  infancy;  the  shock  of  the  Revolu- 
tion had  left  behind  its  ravages,  and  the  country  was  slowly 
recovering  from  the  effects  of  the  mighty  throes  which 
had  given  birth  to  a  free  and  independent  nation.  Public 
libraries  were  comparatively  unknown,  and  the  student 
was  left  to  depend  mainly  upon  his  own  efforts,  aided  by 
the  private  libraries  and  instruction  of  his  teacher.  The 
common  law  of  England,  previously  recognized  as  the  law 
of  the  colonies,  was  undergoing  a  process  of  modification 
adapted  to  the  changed  relations  of  the  countries,  and  the 
peculiar  character  of  our  government.  International  law 
was  more  especially  the  subject  of  close  and  searching 
investigation.  The  French  revolution,  with  its  results 
upon  the  peace  of  Europe;  the  clashing  of  hostile  commer- 
cial interests;  the  claims  of  belligerent  powers  upon  the 
one  side,  and  the  rights  of  neutrals  on  the  other,  were 
topics  of  discussion  among  the  statesmen  of  both  worlds. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances,  that  the  attention  of 
Chancellor  WYTHE  was  called  to  the  humble  boy,  who  was 
then  commencing  a  career  destined  to  become  so  glorious. 
He  saw  the  germ  of  that  intellect,  which  in  its  develop- 
ment, was  afterward  to  sway  the  minds  of  juries,  to  charm 
and  convince  listening  senates,  to  arouse  public  enthu- 


of 


siasm,  to  direct  the  course  of  legislation,  and  to  control 
the  energies  of  a  mighty  people.  The  Chancellor  and  the 
boy  became  friends.  The  youth  has  left  the  impression  of 
his  matured  greatness  upon  the  records  of  his  country's 
history,  and  the  character  of  the  patron  has  been  well 
portrayed  by  the  touching  testimonial  of  Mr.  CLAY  himself 
in  a  letter  to  a  friend. 

Shortly  after  Mr.  CLAY'S  admission  to  the  bar,  in  179Y, 
he  removed  to  Kentucky,  and  at  once  assumed  a  high 
position  at  the  bar  of  his  adopted  state.  At  this  period 
of  his  life,  he  was  remarkable  for  a  fearless  independence, 
undaunted  courage,  keen  sarcasm,  and  brilliant  rhetoric, 
which,  united  to  a  tall  and  graceful  person,  an  eye  that 
never  quailed,  and  a  voice  whose  tones  now  ringing  like 
a  trumpet,  and  again  pleading  with  the  softness  of  a 
woman,  intimidated  the  turbulent,  commanded  the  re- 
spect of  his  compeers,  and  captivated  the  rude  spirits  of 
his  hearers.  These  attributes  continued  to  his  death. 

The  soil  itself  was  congenial  to  his  mind.  The  native 
forests  were  yet  unsubdued.  Here  and  there  a  clearing,  a 
settlement,  and  a  community  indicated  the  inroads  of  civ- 
ilization upon  the  fastnesses  of  the  savage.  The  Indian 
still  claimed  his  birth-right,  and  the  tales  of  savage  war- 
fare, and  the  horrors  of  border  life  are  chronicled  in  the 
traditions  which  designate  the  state  as  the  "  dark  and 
bloody  ground."  Amid  scenes  like  these,  aloof  from  the 
luxuries  of  polished  life,  surrounded  by  primeval  forests, 
where  nature  alone  reigned  supreme,  the  future  statesman 
and  legislator  was  trained  and  matured.  They  furnished 
nutriment  to  his  fancy,  vigor  to  his  mind,  and,  above  all, 
encouraged  and  strengthened  that  self-reliant  spirit  which 
in  after  years  sustained  him  amid  the  turmoil  of  politics, 

226 


the  struggles  of  faction,  the  assaults  of  calumny,  the  en- 
counters of  political  debate,  and  the  forensic  disputations 
of  the  bar. 

Three-fourths  of  a  century  have  passed  since  that  memo- 
rable declaration  which  declared  to  the  world  our  emanci- 
pation from  colonial  thraldom,  and  demanded  our  separation 
from  our  British  brethren,  "  holding  them,  as  we  hold  the 
rest  of  mankind,  enemies  in  war;  in  peace,  friends."  The 
year  succeeding  to  that  which  gave  birth  to  the  nation, 
hailed  the  birth  of  him  who  was  destined  to  leave  the 
impress  of  his  spirit  upon  the  age.  In  the  language  of  a 
biographer,  "  born  and  cradled  in  the  agonies  of  a  revo- 
lution, HEXRY  CLAY  seems  to  have  been  destined  by  Provi- 
dence to  sympathize  with  its  great  principles  of  freedom, 
and  to  be  the  leading  champion  of  human  rights  for  the 
age  in  which  he  has  lived." 

His  career  as  a  legislator  commenced  in  the  General 
Assembly  of  Kentucky,  in  1803,  from  which  he  was  speedily 
elevated  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  in  1806,  for 
the  unexpired  term  of  Hon.  JOHN  ADAIK.  In  1809,  he 
was  again  returned  to  the  Senate;  and  in  1811,  foregoing 
the  higher  dignity,  he  became  a  candidate  for  the  House  of 
Representatives,  and  at  the  Special  Session,  Nov.  4, 1811, 
was  elected  Speaker  of  the  House,  to  which  post  he  was 
subsequently  re-elected  six  times;  occupying  that  position 
in  all  about  thirteen  years.  In  1814,  he  resigned,  upon 
being  appointed  one  of  the  Commissioners  to  negotiate 
peace  with  England.  In  1825>  he  became  Secretary  of 
State,  under  Mr.  Adams;  and  in  1831,  was  returned  to  the 
Senate,  where,  with  a  brief  interval,  consequent  upon  his 
voluntary  retirement,  in  1842,  he  continued  until  his  death, 
being  a  period  of  nearly  fifty  years'  public  service  from 

227 


Obsequies  of 


his  first  entrance  into  public  life.  It  was  in  these  various 
capacities  of  legislator,  diplomatist,  and  Minister  of  State, 
that  Mr.  CLAY  developed  those  views  and  principles  of 
public  policy  which  have  given  to  him  the  designation  of 
"  The  Father  of  the  American  System."  By  this  I  do  not 
mean  that  single,  isolated  measure  known  as  the  Tariff ; 
but  that  great  expansive  system  of  public  policy  which, 
based  upon  the  laws  of  nature  and  the  rights  of  nations, 
has  commanded  the  respect  of  the  world,  while  it  has 
advanced  the  true  prosperity  of  the  country.  Part  of  this 
system  was  the  enforcement  of  our  rights  as  a  neutral 
power,  and  the  protection  of  our  seamen  against  the  arro- 
gant pretensions  of  the  imperious  self-styled  "  Mistress  of 
the  Seas." 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that  no  person  occupied  a 
more  prominent  position  in  the  origin  and  support  of  the 
war  of  1812,  than  Mr.  CLAY.  "  The  war  was  declared 
because  Great  Britain  arrogated  to  herself  the  pretension 
of  regulating  our  foreign  trade,  under  the  delusive  name 
of  retaliatory  Orders  in  Council — because  she  persisted  in 
the  practice  of  impressing  American  seamen;  because  she 
had  instigated  the  Indians  to  commit  hostilities  against 
us,  and  because  she  had  refused  indemnity  for  her  past 
injuries  upon  our  commerce."  The  results  of  the  struggle 
are  known,  and  in  the  termination  so  honorable  to  our- 
selves, and  so  beneficial  to  American  interests,  Mr.  CLAY 
was  again,  as  one  of  the  Commissioners  at  Ghent,  mainly 
instrumental. 

The  recognition  of  South  American  Independence,  and 
the  fearless  and  determined  stand  assumed  by  Mr.  Monroe, 
counseled  and  sustained  by  Mr.  CLAY,  against  foreign 
intervention  in  the  afl'airs  of  the  South  American  States; 

228 


it  e  i)  i'||  6  i  1)1). 


his  instructions,  as  Secretary  of  State,  to  the  ministers  to 
the  proposed  Congress  at  Panama;  his  correspondence, 
growing  out  of  the  difficulties  in  relation  to  the  Colonial 
trade  and  the  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  the 
commercial  treaties  negotiated  by  him,  constitute  the 
international  feature  of  his  American  policy.  Internal 
improvements,  the  protection  and  encouragement  of  Amer- 
ican industry,  and  the  complete  development  of  Amer- 
ican resources,  and  their  independence  of  foreign  control, 
formed  the  domestic  portion  of  his  scheme,  and  though 
others  have  honestly  differed  as  to  the  expediency  of  some 
of  his  proposed  measures,  no  one  will  question  the  motives 
of  patriotism  which  prompted  their  advocate. 

More  than  all,  and  above  all,  he  cherished  the  integrity 
of  the  Union.  For  this  he  labored;  to  this  end  he  strove. 
Placing  himself  upon  the  Constitution,  he  stood  before 
the  country  the  advocate  of  concord  and  fraternal  harmo- 
ny— the  stern,  unyielding  opponent  of  discord  and  dis- 
union. Amid  the  clashing  of  sectional  jealousies  and 
discordant  interests;  the  denunciations  of  heated  zealots, 
and  the  threats  of  vindictive  partisans,  his  eye  quailed 
not;  his  voice  was  not  hushed.  His  eagle  glance  surveyed  ' 
the  scene;  and  anon,  amid  the  whirl  of  conflict  and  polit- 
ical strife,  above  the  bowlings  of  the  storm,  rung  out  his 
clarion  tones  of  comfort  for  the  faint-hearted,  and  encour- 
agement to  the  despairing.  Born  to  command  the  human 
passions,  and  skilled  to  rule  the  infirmities  of  our  nature, 
he  now  threatened  the  defiant,  now  persuaded  the  self- 
willed.  The  tempest  was  stayed.  At  the  sound  of  his  voice, 
ringing  out  the  notes  of  warning  and  alarm,  millions  sprang 
to  the  rescue— the  war  of  passions  ceased,  discord  fled, 
and  the  elements  of  peace  and  happiness  again  shone  forth. 


In  1821,  when  the  storm  of  dissolution  threatened  the 
country  upon  the  Missouri  question,  the  almost  superhuman 
efforts  of  Mr.  CLAY  alone  averted  the  result.  Again,  in 
1833,  when  nullification  reared  its  -hideous  head,  he  inter- 
posed, and  the  spectre  was  exorcised.  And  when,  at  last, 
disunion  showed  its  horrid  front, 

"  And  o'er  our  fathers'  yet  green  graves, 
The  sons  of  those  who  side  by  side 
Struck  down  the  lion  banner's  pride, 
Were  arming  for  fraternal  strife, 
For  blow  for  blow,  and  life  for  life—" 

again  stood  forth  that  Old  Man  Eloquent.  He  had  seen 
most  of  his  children  fall  around  him,  one  upon  the  battle- 
field, others  by  the  hand  of  disease  and  unexpected  death. 
He  had  felt  the  anguish  and  sorrow  of  the  sudden  rupture 
of  the  holiest  of  ties;  he  had  wept  over  the  graves  of  his 
own  loved  offspring,  but  his  country  remained.  There  she 
stood  a  beacon  of  liberty  to  the  enthralled  of  other  shores. 
The  ever-burning  altars  of  freedom  were  on  her  hilltops, 
and  the  smoke  of  their  incense  was  diffusing  itself  through- 
out the  world.  The  sails  of  her  commerce  whitened 
-every  sea,  and  her  flag  proudly  floated,  a  sure  token  of 
protection  to  all  beneath  its  folds.  The  oppressed  of 
Europe  looked  to  her  and  her  example  as  their  refuge  and 
hope.  Tyrants  and  traitors  alone  hated  and  feared  her. 
All  this  he  saw  and  knew.  Again  he  donned  his  armor, 
and  battling  in  the  foremost  rank  with  the  noble  spirits 
who  yet  survive,  and  who,  forgetful  of  party  and  party 
ties  stood  side  by  side  in  defence  of  our  ancient  bond  of 
brotherhood,  his  last  blows  were  in  the  cause  of  his  coun- 
try, constitutional  liberty  and  union. 

Glorious  termination  of  a  well-spent  life  !     Children  of 

20 


»k< 


JfretHrjjSigjj. 


America !  revere  his  memory — imitate  his  example — emu- 
late his  virtue  ! 

"Be  just  and  fear  not ; 

Let  all  the  ends  thou  aims't  at  be  thy  Country's, 
Thy  God's,  and  Truth's." 

Thus  shall  you  acquire  "  the  high,  the  exalted,  the  sub- 
lime emotions  of  a  patriotism  which,  soaring  toward 
heaven,  rises  above  all  mean,  low  or  selfish  things,  and  is 
absorbed  by  one  soul-transporting  thought  of  the  good  and 
the  glory  of  one's  country.  That  patriotism  which,  catch- 
ing its  inspiration  from  the  immortal  GOD,  and  leaving,  at 
an  immeasurable  distance  below,  all  lesser  groveling  per- 
sonal interests  and  feelings,  animates  and  prompts  to  deeds 
of  self-sacrifice,  of  valor,  of  devotion,  and  of  death  itself. 
THAT  is  PUBLIC  VIRTUE;  THAT  is  THE  NOBLEST,  THE  SUB- 

LIMEST  OF  PUBLIC  VIRTUES."      That  was  the  PUBLIC  VIRTUE 

OP  HENRY  CLAY. 

Women  of  America!  ye  around  whom  our  affections 
cluster  and  upon  whom  they  depend — cherish  in  your 
heart  of  hearts  the  memory  of  the  departed  patriot,  and 
to  the  lisping  infant  chant  the  story  of  his  greatness  and 
his  honest  fame.  Tell  your  children  of  his  filial  rever- 
ence and  devotion;  of  his  untiring  energy,  his  lofty  aims, 
his  noble  bearing,  and  his  self-sacrificing  spirit;  and  teach 
them — be  ye,  too,  the  guardians  and  defenders  of  that 
Union  which  he  struggled  to  preserve. 

Men  of  America!  be  steadfast  in  your  country's  cause. 
Falter  not !  Here,  over  the  grave  of  the  departed  sage, 
by  that  courage  which  failed  him  not,  by  the  memorials  of 
his  greatness,  by  the  records  of  his  patriotism,  by  his  un- 
faltering devotion  to  the  cause  of  freedom,  by  his  undying 
fame,  and  by  that  divine  faith  and  resignation  which 

231 


cheered,  consoled  and  comforted  his  glorious  death,  swear 
ye  that  ye  will  transmit  unimpaired,  to  your  posterity,  the 
inheritance  ye  possess  —  "  Our  glorious  Union,  now  and 
forever,  one  and  indivisible." 

REV.  BENJAMIN   J.   HAIGHT,  D.D., 

concluded  the  beautiful  obituary  ceremonies  with  the  fol- 
lowing 


Unto  GOD,  d  to  His  glorious  mercy  and  protection,  I 
commit  you.  May  the  LORD  preserve  and  keep  you,  and 
may  He  make  His  voice  to  shine  upon  you.  and  be  gra- 
cious unto  you.  May  the  light  of  His  countenance  be 
upon  you,  and  give  you  peace,  now  and  evermore.  Amen. 


The  funeral  solemnities  in  honor  of  the  universally  be- 
loved and  honored  American  statesman,  the  illustrious  and 
lamented  HENRY  CLAY,  having  been  accomplished,  your 
Committee  have  great  reason  to  congratulate  themselves 
upon  the  very  general  assistance  cheerfully  rendered  by 
the  inhabitants  of  this  and  the  adjacent  cities,  in  the  dis- 
charge of  the  melancholy,  though  grateful,  duties  assigned 
them.  Sensible  of  the  high  responsibilities  resting  on 
them,  they  know  that  they  would  be  wanting  in  their  duty, 
did  they  fail  to  acknowledge,  with  sentiments  of  gratitude, 
the  promptness  and  alacrity,  as  well  as  the  deep  feelings 
of  sympathy  manifested  by  their  fellow-citizens  in  carrying 
out  the  various  duties  of  the  ceremonial,  in  the  discharge 
of  which  they  seemed  to  feel  themselves  highly  honored. 
Party  spirit  was  completely  forgotten  ;  political  diffcr- 


ences  entirely  laid  aside,  and  men  of  every  class  and 
station  vied  with  each  other  in  rendering  appropriate 
honors  to  the  "  mighty  dead."  All  parties  claimed  him — 
for  he  was  of  his  whole  country.  The  citizens  of  the  Re- 
public acted  and  felt  as  ONE  PEOPLE — with  a  common 
interest  in  cherishing  the  memory  of  the  great  and  good. 
His  was  one  of  the  few  instances  in  which  a  great  man, 
passing  through  a  long  and  active  life,  closely  identified 
with  the  exciting  political  questions  of  the  day,  and 
placed  in  the  front  rank  in  the  discussion  of  subjects  of 
vital  importance  to  the  interests  of  the  country — lived 
through  and  outlived  all  sectional  prejudice;  every  party 
vituperation,  and  ambitious  sordid  hypocrisy.  His  honest, 
his  intense,  his  devoted  love  of  country,  endeared  him  to 
the  whole  nation.  "He  was  American  through  and 
through;  American  in  his  feelings,  American  in  his  aims, 
American  in  his  policy  and  projects.  The  influence,  the 
grandeur,  the  dominion  of  America  were  the  dreams  of 
his  boyhood,  and  the  intense  effort  of  his  riper  years. 
For  this  he  valued  power,  and  for  this  he  used  it."  Of 
him  every  citizen  in  the  country  could  justly  say — 

"  His  life  was  gentle ;  and  the  elements 
So  mix'd  in  him,  that  Nature  might  stand  up, 
And  say  to  all  the  world, —  This  was  a  man  /" 

Your  Committee  would  dwell,  for  a  few  moments,  upon 
the  ensemble  of  the  pageant.  From  an  early  part  of  the 
day  set  apart  for  the  purpose,  the  city  was  given  up  to 
preparation  for  the  imposing  solemnities  about  to  take 
place.  Precisely  at  the  hour  designated  in  the  programme, 
the  various  military  companies,  public  bodies,  associations, 
societies  and  citizens,  having  arrived  in  detachments  at 

233 


their  several  places  of  rendezvous,  were  formed  into  col- 
umn by  the  respective  Aids  to  the  Grand  Marshal,  who, 
upon  the  signal  by  the  tolling  bell,  placed  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  procession,  which  then  commenced  its  march. . 
A  common  sentiment  of  veneration  pervaded  the  entire 
line  of  the  procession,  and  the  sympathy  between  it  and 
the  throngs  that  embordered  its  entire  route,  was  made 
manifest  in  many  exhibitions  of  tenderness.  Thousands 
of  buildings  in  all  parts  of  the  city  bore,  upon  their  neatly 
decorated  fronts,  undeniable  evidences  of  the  love  which 
was  felt  for  HENRY  CLAY.  Devices  of  unique  and  classic 
conception,  and  recorded  sentiments,  setting  forth  the 
exalted  character  and  virtues  of  the  deceased — his  event- 
ful life  and  tranquil  death — were  suspended  from  eaves, 
balconies,  stagings,  and  windows.  Funereal  draperies, 
streaming  from  house-top  to  the  street;  flags,  heavily 
shrouded,  at  half  mast,  among  the  shipping  in  the  harbor, 
and  upon  every  flagstaff  in  the  city;  the  booming  minute- 
gun,  consecutively  fired  from  the  Battery,  and  answered 
again  from  the  forts  in  the  harbor,  at  the  Navy  Yard, 
from  Brooklyn  and  Bergen  Heights,  from  Governor's, 
Ellis',  Bedlow's  and  Staten  Islands,  reverberating  mourn- 
fully through  the  city,  and  echoing  along  the  bay,  until 
their  deafening  sounds  were  lost  in  the  distance;  the 
tolling  bells,  ringing  their  sad  knell  in  notes  that  betoken 
the  dissolution  of  man's  earthly  career — the  same  mourn- 
ful sounds  distinctly  heard  from  the  bells  in  Brooklyn, 
Jersey  City,  and  Williamsburgh,  chiming  in  doleful  con- 
cert with  those  of  this  city;  the  solemn  dirge;  the  muffled 
drum;  the  heavy  tramp  of  the  mournful  procession,  as 
it  wended,  in  its  slow  and  measured  length,  along  the 
streets;  all  gave  the  strongest  tokens  of  the  deep  syin- 

234 


ftaory  6lnjj. 


pathy   pervading  the  hearts  of  the  thousands  that  had 
come  from  their  business  and  homes  to  render  their  last 
tribute  of  love  and  homage  to  the  memory  of  a  Nation's  ] 
departed  son.     Though  during  the  early  part  of  the  day, 
the   sun  shone  forth  with  its  highest  splendor,  darting 
its  torrid  rays  with  unusual  vigor,  yet  toward  the  after- 
noon,  the  heavens,   like  the   earth,   put  on  their  sable 
mantling;  a  cooling  and  shadowy  cloud  intervened  between 
the  burning  rays  of  the  sun  and  the  earth,  and  threw  a 
singularly  gloomy  aspect  over  the  whole  city — appropriate  J 
to  the  mournful  solemnities  of  the  day.     All  business  was ! 
suspended,  and  at  an  early  hour,  every  part  of  the  city, 
save  on  the  line  of  the  procession,  was  deserted.    Perfect' 
order  reigned  everywhere;  thousands  of  strangers  from' 
the  adjacent  cities  thronged  our  streets  as  participators  in ! 
the  mournful  obsequies.     The  entire  route  of  the  proces- ' 
sion,  on   every  side,  was  lined  with  inscriptions,  busts, 
monuments,  and  other  imposing  reminiscences  of  respect 
to  the  great  man's  memory.     Many  of  the  devices  and 
inscriptions  exhibited  a  refined  taste,  with  great  appro- 
priateness; and  very  frequently,  as  some  thrilling  tribute 
of  affection  was  met,  the  civic  portion  of  the  procession 
uncovered  and  remained  so  until  they  passed  it. 

The  procession  was  probably  the  longest  ever  seen  in 
this  city,  and  one  general  feeling  marked  every  section 
of  its  immense  numbers,  illustrative  of  the  beautiful  senti- 
ment of  the  occasion — its  sincerity.  It  was  no  unmeaning 
mockery  of  woe;  no  mere  seeming  of  regret,  but  the  true 
and  real  mourning  of  an  appreciating,  a  grateful  and  a 
bereaved  people.  To  no  man,  living  or  dead,  has  America 
ever  paid  a  higher  tribute  of  respect  than  that  which  she 
rendered  to  the  memory  of  HENRY  CLAY.  The  subject 


®bsec)i|ies  of 


is  full  of  material  for  reflection — an  encouragement  for 
others  to  walk  with  uprightness,  and  in  the  paths  of  virtue 
and  integrity,  following  him  as  an  example,  worthy  of  all 
imitation. 

"  Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us, 

We  can  make  our  lives  sublime  ; 
And  departing,  leave  behind  us. 

Footprints  in  the  sands  of  time. 
Footprints,  that  perhaps  another, 

Sailing  o'er  life's  troubled  main, 
Some  foilorn  and  shipwrecked  brother, 

Saeing,  may  take  heart  again." 

In  conclusion,  your  Committee  beg  leave  to  express 
their  sincere  thanks  to  the  Grand  Marshal  and  his  Aids; 
the  military,  political  and  civic  bodies;  the  clergy,  citizens 
of  this  and  adjacent  cities,  and  all  others  who  united  with 
them  upon  this  melancholy  occasion,  for  their  valuable 
and  essential  services  in  carrying  into  effect  the  detailed 
arrangements  of  the  day;  and  most  especially  for  the 
cheerful,  prompt  and  efficient  manner  with  which  they  all 
responded,  in  every  instance,  to  the  wishes  of  the  Com- 
mittee in  giving  effect  to  this  solemn  and  well  merited 
pageant. 

Your  Committee  also  desire,  before  closing  the  labors 
of  their  report,  to  state,  that  as  solemnities  of  an  appro- 
priate and  imposing  character  were  celebrated  in  the  city 
of  Brooklyn,  by  order  of  the  corporate  authorities,  upon 
the  evening"of  the  day  on  which  the  obsequies  were  per- 
formed in  this  city,  in  a  manner  commensurate  with  their 
sincere  and  devoted  attachment  to  the  illustrious  deceased; 
and  upon  this,  as  well  as  on  all  former  occasions  of  this 
character,  the  Common  Council  and  citizens  of  Brooklyn 
were  efficient  participants  in  the  obsequies  of  our  mutually 

236 


jfenffl  Gigt). 

respected  and  lamented  dead,  your  Committee  deem  the 
subject  and  its  interests,  in  this  connection,  so  closely 
allied  as  to  demand  some  proper  consideration  at  their 
hands,  and  the  official  proceedings  of  that  body,  adopted 
upon  that  occasion,  together  with  the  ceremonies,  should 
occupy  a  space  in  this  report;  therefore,  in  accordance 
with  these  views,  your  Committee  present  the  following 

PROCEEDINGS   IN   BROOKLYN. 


COMMON  COUNCIL.—  SPECIAL  MEETING/ 


THURSDAY,  JULY  Isx,  1852. 

A  special  meeting  of  the  Common  Council  was  held 
this  evening,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  some  action  rela- 
tive to  the  death  of  HENRY  CLAY.  On  the  assembling 
of  the  Board,  the  following  communication  from  the  Mayor 
was  submitted  : 

GENTLEMEN  :  —  The  country  has  been  called  to  lament 
the  loss  of  one  of  its  most  illustrious  citizens.  A  states- 
man, to  whom  the  eyes  of  the  nation  have  been  turned  for 
counsel  in  every  hour  of  peril  and  disaster  for  nearly  the 
last  half  century,  has  closed  his  brilliant  and  honorable 
career  of  public  service,  and  has  ceased  to  be  of  earth. 
HENRY  CLAY,  a  Senator  of  the  United  States,  from  the 
State  of  Kentucky,  died  at  the  city  of  Washington  on  the 
29th  of  June  last.  The  feeling  of  public  sorrow  for  this 
national  bereavement  is  so  universal  and  profound,  that 


Obsequies  of 


you  will,  no  doubt,  feel  called  upon  to  make  some  public 
and  suitable  expression  of  the  sentiments  of  this  commu- 
nity on  the  occasion.  I  shall  be  happy  to  concur  with  you 
in  whatever  measures  may  be  deemed  appropriate  to  do 
honor  to  the  memory  of  the  lamented  and  venerated  dead, 
and  justice  to  the  emotions  of  a  people  proud  of  his  fame, 
and  stricken  with  a  deep  sense  of  a  great  public  loss. 

Respectfully  yours, 

CONKLIN  BRUSH,  Mayor. 

Aldermen  MARVIN,  FOWLER  and  HARTEAU  made  some 
brief  and  appropriate  remarks  on  the  subject  of  the  com- 
munication, when,  on  motion,  Aldermen  MARVIN,  FOWLER, 
MORRIS,  HARTEAU,  SPINOLA  and  BAYLIS  were  appointed  a 
a  committee  to  draft  resolutions  expressive  of  the  sense  of 
the  Board,  who,  after  a  short  deliberation,  reported  the 
following: 

Whereas,  This  Common  Council  having  been  officially 
informed  of  the  decease  at  Washington,  on  the  29th  of 
June  last,  of  HENRY  CLAY,  and  desiring,  with  feelings  of 
profound  sensibility,  to  unite  with  their  fellow-citizens 
throughout  the  land  in  the  general  expression  of  sorrow 
for  a  great  national  bereavement,  in  the  loss  of  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  citizens  of  the  Republic;  it  is  therefore 

Resolved,  That  this  Common  Council,  representing  a 
community  in  which  the  name  of  HENRY  CLAY  has  long 
been  known  and  cherished,  desires  to  place  upon  the 
records  of  the  city  an  expression  of  its  sense  of  the  ex- 
alted character  of  the  departed  patriot  and  statesman. 
Commencing  his  career  in  the  service  of  the  United 
States  as  a  senator  in  1806;  in  1852,  at  the  close  of  nearly 

238 


half  a  century  of  diversified  and  brilliant  civic  employ- 
ments, death  found  him  there  at  his  post,  and  he  fell  with 
his  "  harness  on" — "  without  fear  and  without  reproach." 
Greatness,  as  applied  to  HENRY  CLAY,  was  a  word  of 
large  significance.  He  was  a  great  lawyer;  a  great 
patriot;  a  great  statesman,  a  great  orator,  and  combining 
the  radiance  of  all  these  distinguished  titles  to  admira- 
tion and  honor,  he  was,  in  the  most  general  and  highest 
sense,  a  truly  noble  and  great  man.  His  laurels  were 
never  wet  with  the  tears  of  widows  and  orphans,  and  his 
trophies  have  never  cost  the  nation  its  treasure  or  its 
blood.  These  free  United  States,  whose  prosperity  has 
been  advanced,  and  whose  union  has  been  cemented  by  his 
wisdom,  will  hereafter,  with  eyes  purged  from  the  mists  of 
party  prejudice,  read  the  glorious  annals  which  record  his 
brilliant  career  with  pride,  in  his  comprehensive  views  of 
public  policy;  in  his  integrity;  in  his  unfaltering  courage, 
and  in  his  unwavering  fidelity  in  the  long,  difficult  and 
dangerous  path  of  public  life  which  he  trod,  will  hold  up 
his  example  for  the  study  and  imitation  of  their  ingenuous 
youth,  and  their  rising  statesmen;  and  will,  through  all 
the. coming  ages  of  the  Republic,  cherish  his  as 

"  On    of  the  few  immortal  names 
That  were  not  born  to  die." 

Resolved,  That  it  be  referred  to  a  Special  Committee  of 
six,  to  make  arrangements  for  the  delivery,  before  this 
Common  Council,  and  our  fellow-citizens,  of  a  discourse 
upon  the  life  and  services  of  HENRY  CLAY,  and  to  make 
such  arrangements  as  they  may  think  proper. 

In  pursuance  of  the  foregoing  resolution,  the  undersigned 
would  respectfully  announce  to  their  fellow-citizens  and 

239 


¥bge Allies  of  i? 

others,  that  the  Rev.  SAMUEL  H.  Cox,  D.  D.,  will  deliver 
a  discourse  on  the  life  and  services  of  HEXRY  CLAY,  in  the 
Second  Presbyterian  Church,  Clinton  street,  (under  the 
pastoral  charge  of  the  Rev.  I.  S.  SPENCER,  D.  D.,)  on  Tues- 
day, 20th  inst.,  at  8  o'clock,  p.  M. 

The  Committee  respectfully  recommend  his  Honor  the 
Mayor,  to  issue  his  proclamation,  suggesting  to  the  citizens 
to  close  their  places  of  business  on  the  afternoon  of  that 
day,  and  to  attend  the  evening  services  in  honor  of  the 
lamented  dead. 

ABM.  B.  BAYLIS, 
CHAH.  R.  MARVIN, 
C.  C.  FOWLER, 
FREDERICK  MORRIS, 
HENRY  HARTEAU, 
F.  B.  SPINOLA, 

Special  Com.  of  Arrangements. 


PEOCLAMATION. 

MAYOR'S  OFFICE, 
BROOKLYN,  JULY  17,  1852. 

The  citizens  are  recommended  to  unite  in  the  public  ser- 
vices, on  Tuesday  evening,  the  20th  of  July,  at  8  o'clock,  at 
the  church  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  SPENCER,  in  honor  of  the  mem- 
ory of  HENRY  CLAY,  and  to  close  their  places  of  business 
during  the  afternoon  of  that  day.  A  discourse,  commemo- 
rative of  Mr.  CLAY'S  distinguished  services  and  career,  has 
been  deemed  more  appropriate  than  a  public  pageant,  to 
express  the  profound  and  universal  sorrow  of  our  citizens, 

240 


on  occasion  of  an  irreparable  national  loss,  in  the  decease 
of  the  great  American  statesman. 

CONKLIN  BRUSH,  Mayor. 

Pursuant  to  the  foregoing  unanimous  action  of  the  Com- 
mon Council,  a  very  large  and  respectable  auditory  assem- 
bled in  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  generously  offered 
for  the  purpose.  His  Honor,  CONKLIN  BRUSH,  Mayor, 
presiding;  the  Common  Council,  with  officers  of  the  Army 
and  Navy,  and  other  distinguished  citizens  participating. 
The  impressive  ceremonies  were  commenced  with  the  fol- 
lowing impressive 


which  was  offered  up  to  the  Throne  of  Grace  by  the  Rev. 
GEORGE  W.  BETHUXE,  D.  D. 

0  LORD,  Thou  art  GOD  alone;  before  the  mountains  were 
brought  forth,  or  ever  Thou  didst  form  the  earth  and  the 
sea,  Thou  wert  alone  in  Thy  glory  and  perfections,  and 
from  Thy  will  all  things  have  come.  Thou  callest  man  into 
being,  and  when  Thou  hast  served  Thy  purposes  with  him 
upon  earth,  Thou  sendest  him  again  to  the  dust,  and  bring- 
est  his  spirit  before  Thee  into  judgment.  There  is  none 
that  can  stay  Thy  hand,  none  that  can  escape  the  purpose 
of  Thy  will.  It  becometh  us,  0  Lord,  to  bow  down  before 
Thee  at  this  time,  in  remembrance  of  Thy  majesty  and  of 
our  littleness.  Thou  alone  art  the  Author,  and  the  Pre- 
server, and  the  Governor  and  the  Judge.  We  come  to 
Thee  in  this  hour  of  solemn  warning  and  affliction.  We 
come  bending  our  hearts,  as  we  trust  to  receive  the  lessons 
which  Thou  teachest,  and  beseeching  Thee  to  grant  us  the 


1 


16 


241 


blessings  which  we  need.  We  give  Thee  thanks.  0  God, 
that  from  Thy  high,  majestic  throne,  Thou  hast  taken  notice 
of  Thy  people.  Especially  do  we,  dwellers  in  this  land,  give 
Thee  thanks  for  Thy  favor  to  our  fathers  in  all  their  his- 
tory; in  their  settlement  of  this  commonwealth,  in  their 
struggles  for  freedom,  in  their  laying  the  foundation  of  this 
government,  and  the  preservation  of  it  amidst  all  the  vicis- 
situdes which  are  inevitable  from  the  imperfections  of  man. 
We  thank  Thee  that  Thou  didst  lay  the  basis  of  our  insti- 
tutions deep  in  the  hearts  of  the  people;  that  Thou  hast 
permitted  them  to  build  upon  that  foundation  a  superstruc- 
ture so  massive  and  so  lofty.  Blessed  be  Thy  name,  0 
Lord;  for  unless  Thou  buildest  the  city,  those  that  build  it 
work  in  vain.  We  thank  Thee  that  our  fathers  cared  for 
their  country;  and  devoted  their  interests,  and  affection, 
and  time,  to  the  institutions  of  their  native  land.  In  Thy 
hands  are  the  hearts  of  all  men.  From  Thee  have  come 
our  statesmen,  our  rulers,  our  orators,  and  all  those  who 
have  contributed  to  build  up  this  land;  all  those  who  have 
been  permitted  to  serve  their  country.  Especially  at  this 
time  would  we  bow  down  before  Thee,  and  while  we  ac- 
knowledge this  severe  affliction  which  Thy  hand  hath  made 
the  country  to  feel,  we  would  thank  Thee  that  Thou  didst 
raise  him  up  and  qualify  his  mind,  and  Thou  didst  enlarge 
his  heart  and  give  to  him  a  talent  and  an  inclination  to  do 
all  these  things  for  his  country,  which  have  tended  to  its 
prosperity.  We  thank  Thee  that  Thou  hast  granted  unto 
us  now  the  memory  of  one  who  was  faithful  to  that  land 
which  he  served.  We  thank  Thee  that  Thy  people  of  all 
parties  and  opinions  may  meet  together,  and  with  sincerity 
mourn  over  the  dust  of  him  for  whom  these  pageants  of 
mourning  have  been  raised  to-day.  We  thank  Thee,  0 

242 


&6ff>4  Gl'ty. 


God,  for  him,  and  for  those  who  have  been  associated  with 
him  in  time  when  the  crisis  of  our  nation's  interests  re- 
quired self-sacrificing  men  to  secure  the  welfare  of  the 
whole  nation,  and  to  bind  in  stronger  union  the  various 
parties  of  this  mighty  confederacy,  in  the  arch  upon  which 
the  political  liberties  of  the  world  are  built.  And  we  thank 
Thee  that  Thou  didst  shed  the  consolations  of  the  Gospel 
through  his  mind,  and  that  he  whose  life  was  one  of  con- 
stant toil  and  agitation,  was  permitted  quietly  and  sweetly 
to  expire  in  the  hope  of  a  glorious  immortality.  Blessed 
be  God  that  we  may  receive  through  that  darkness  which 
hangs  over  the  tomb,  the  anticipation  of  the  bliss  which  is 
beyond.  Yea,  that  we  may  have  faith,  by  knowing  that 
he  who  sleeps  in  Jesus,  God  will  bring  with  him.  We  thank 
Thee  that  we  are  permitted  to  ask  of  Thee  to  continue  Thy 
favors  to  our  beloved  land;  that  thou  wouldst  raise  up 
from  time  to  time,  men  of  good  counsel,  of  honest  hearts 
and  determined  courage,  who  shall  fearlessly  and  untiring- 
ly pursue  the  right.  Remember  the  prayers  of  those  who 
founded  this  nation,  in  their  zeal,  for  Thy  name.  Remem- 
ber the  prayers  of  Thy  people,  which  go  up  to  Thee  from 
the  pulpit,  the  fireside,  and  the  closet,  calling  down  Thy 
blessing  upon  this  land,  incomparably  more  favored  than 
ever  Israel  was.  We  are  sinners  before  Thee,  and  now 
feel  the  truth  that  sentence  of  death  hath  passed  upon  all 
men,  we  are  subject  to  that  sentence  which  came  into  the 
world  by  sin.  Sanctify  our  hearts  by  Thy  peace,  that  we 
may  live  humbly  mindful  of  death.  Amen. 


AN    ADDRESS 

ON   THE   LIFE   AND   CHARACTER  OF  THE   LATE 

HON.    HENRY    CLAY, 

DELIVERED    BEFORE   THE 

MAYOR  AND  COMMON  COUNCIL  OF  BROOKLYN,  AND  A  LARGE  ASSEMBLAGE  OF  CITIZENS, 

BY 

SAMUEL  HANSON  COX,  D.  D. 


—  videbatur  omnino  mori  non  debuisse  — 

Mr.  MAYOK,  MEMBERS  OF  THE  COMMON  COUNCIL, 
AND  OTHER  HONORED  AND  INTELLIGENT 

PERSONS  PRESENT,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

We  have  met  on  a  rare  and  a  solemn  occasion  !  Our 
nation  celebrates  the  funeral  of  HENRY  CLAY.  Our  loss  is 
national.  Not  many  a  WASHINGTON,  or  a  LAFAYETTE,  or 
an  ADAMS,  or  a  CLAY,  had  our  country  to  lose.  Such 
statesmen,  such  heroes,  such  patriots,  such  champions,  such 
useful  and  distinguished  and  exemplary  citizens,  are  not  to 
be  found  frequent  in  any  country.  Ours  has  had  her  full 
and  appropriate  share  of  great  men.  Her  firmament  is 
rich  with  constellations,  and  each  of  these  adorned  with 
stars  of  the  first  magnitude.  Hereafter,  not  Kentucky, 
but  America,  not  the  party,  but  the  nation,  claims  HENRY 
CLAY,  as  her  own.  Alas !  that  she  mourns  him  dead,  be- 
cause with  the  fleeting  and  inconstant  minority  alive,  he 
ceases  to  be  numbered. 

244 


ij-cnl'ii  Glqtj. 


In  obedience  to  your  call,  my  honored  hearers,  I  stand 
before  you,  willing  to  meet  the  awe-inspiring  occasion, 
with  what  I  best  may  offer  ;  not  without  the  subduing 
consciousness  of  my  incompetency  to  do  it  justice.  I  re- 
spond, honored  civic  Fathers  of  Brooklyn,  and  fellow-cit- 
izens, under  the  fond  ideas  that  we  are  together  performing 
one  of  the  high  duties  of  patriotism;  that  this  social  and 
moral  service  is  done  and  due  to  the  collective  interests  of 
our  country,  our  great,  our  beloved,  our  whole  country; 
that  it  is  proper,  useful,  and  sublimely  national;  that  all 
these  observances  and  commemorations  are  beneficial  and 
cementing  to  our  mighty  and  our  magnificent  UNION;  that 
we  are  enacting,  in  these  tributary  honors,  what  the  Great 
Fathers  and  Founders  of  the  REPUBLIC,  what  WASHING- 
TON, and  FRANKLIN,  and  HAMILTON,  would  approve;  that 
every  concert  movement  of  this  moral  and  patriotic  sort, 
tends  natively  to  consolidate  the  strength,  and  to  assimi- 
late the  members,  and  to  render  homogeneous  for  good  all 
the  correlated  portions  and  sections  of  our  vast  and  our  won- 
derful confederacy;  that  with  it  we  profitably  lose  the  lit- 
tleness of  sectionalism,  in  the  expansive  sympathies  of  our 
vast  and  united  country,  realizing,  in  the  conscious  imprint 
of  our  mingled  hearts,  the  conservative,  and  the  economic 
grandeur  of  our  noble  national  motto,  which  our  bird  im- 
perial, grasping  the  arrows  and  the  bolts  of  war  in  one 
talon,  and  in  the  other,  this  the  dexter,  waving  the  olive 
branch  of  peace  preferred;  which  motto,  I  say,  our  soaring 
eagle,  with  pinions  spread  among  the  stars  of  heaven,  lifts 
to  the  gaze  and  the  admiration  of  the  universe — E  PLURIBUS 
rxi  M!  Yesf  the  idea  that  in  this  we  forget,  for  an  au 
spicious  season,  all  that  is  little  and  local  and  partial; 
know  no  east,  no  west,  no  north,  no  south,  no  distinc- 


Obseqtiies  of 


tion  of  ocean  boundaries  or  mountain  ranges,  liquefied  in- 
deed with  the  grief  of  patriotism  and  confluent  in  the  feel- 
ings of  funereal  sympathy,  we  celebrate  the  death  of  CLAY, 
our  lofty  senator;  we  solemnize  his  exit,  as  that  of  another 
of  the  great  patriarchs  of  our  common  country,  and  do  this 
in  concert  simultaneous  with  millions  of  our  countrymen; 
this  idea  befits  us,  ennobles  us,  benefits  the  nation,  makes 
us  united  and  assimilated  more,  is  proper  in  all  relations, 
and  even  our  divine  Christianity  sanctions  and  inspires 
this  homage,  in  its  wide  spread  and  memorable  and  excel- 
lent magnificence. 

We  have  privileges  as  citizens  of  this  country,  dignities, 
and  consequent  duties  too,  at  once  ennobling  and  stupen- 
dous, which  are  equally  enjoyed  by  no  other  people  under 
heaven.  As  Christians  and  worshippers  of  the  true  God, 
how  precious  to  the  enlightened  mind,  how  good  and  how 
paramount,  are  our  civic  and  political  liberties  !  And 
how  base  and  abominable,  to  possess  them  with  no  grati- 
tude, with  no  appreciation,  with  no  sensibility.  And  what 
is  it  better  than  squalid  degradation,  and  criminal  selfish- 
ness, to  occupy  and  enjoy  these  high  advantages,  with  no 
generous  sentiment,  either  to  the  Sovereign  of  the  Universe, 
who  vouchsafes  to  confer  them  on  us,  or  to  those  proximate 
instruments  of  his  beneficence,  through  whom,  and  by  whose 
vigilance  and  care  and  skill  and  faithfulness,  under  God, 

O  '  ' 

we  derive  and  retain  them  all.  With  this  view,  my  re- 
spected hearers,  are  we  ready  to  denounce  the  man,  of  soul 
so  dead,  could  we  find  him  in  our  city  or  our  country — yet 
would  I  not  accuse  any  portion  of  our  happy  land  of  har- 
boring the  monster,  who  thinks  that  he  owes  no  gratitude 
to  our  departed  senator;  who  grudges  these  honors  to  his 
hearse;  who  feels  no  grief,  no  sense  of  bereavement,  in 

246 


ffei)fjj€iqfl. 


common  with  the  nation  and  the  world,  at  the  funeral  of 
HENRY  CLAY — we  denounce  him,  as  unfit  to  live  in  our 
country,  as  an  ingrate,  or  a  simpleton,  or  a  traitor. 

If  such  there  live,  go  mark  him  well ; 
For  him  no  minstrel  raptures  tell. 
High  though  his  titles,  proud  his  nnme, 
Boundless  his  wealth  as  wish  may  claim  ; 
Despite  those  titles,  power,  and  pelf, 
The  wretch  concentred  all  in  self, 
Living,  shall  forfeit  fair  renown, 
And,  doubly  dying,  shall  go  down, 
To  the  vile  dust  from  whence  he  sprung, 
Unwept,  unhonored  and  unsung. 

Our  theme  was  an  American  of  the  Americans.  He  was 
an  exemplar,  and  a  noble  specimen  of  genuine  American 
greatness.  Born  to  no  princely  fortune,  the  scion  of  no 
factitious  family  honors,  he  was,  under  God,  as  he  was  ever 
fond  to  confess,  the  architect  of  his  own  high  fortunes,  the 
maker  of  his  own  large  patent  of  nobility,  the  honest  earner 
of  his  own  accomplished  fame.  He  rose  from  obscurity, 
from  poverty,  from  orphanage,  and  even  from  a  very  lim- 
ited education,  to  rank  among  the  first  and  the  most  esti- 
mable of  human  personages,  beloved  by  his  countrymen 
and  celebrated  through  the  world.  He  rose  legitimately; 
not  by  ignominious  boasting,  or  mercenary  patronage,  or 
the  caprice  of  prodigies  and  events,  or  by  flattering  the 
populace,  or  by  the  flooded  puissance  of  bribes,  or  by  some 
coup  d'etat  of  revolutionary  exigence,  or  by  cunning  and 
the  low  arts  of  demagogism;  but — hear  it,  0  ye  ingenuous 
and  aspiring  youth  of  our  country,  HENRY  CLAY  rose  by 
industry,  by  assiduous  application,  by  honesty,  by  consis- 
tency, by  deserving  the  confidence  of  the  people,  by  study- 
ing and  pursuing  the  true  interests  of  his  country,  by  evinc- 

247 


06sec]i|ies  of 


ing  what  ho  was,  so  that  enemies  had  to  own  it,  by  prac- 
tical wisdom,  by  love  of  liberty,  by  illustrating  the  true 
nature  of  American  statesmanship,  by  vivid  alertness  in  the 
cause  of  humanity,  by  enlightened  and  devout  attachment 
to  the  interests  of  the  nation;  by  studying  and  mastering 
the  full  philosophy  of  constitutional  law,  and  bodying  the 
CONSTITUTION  in  his  living  conduct;  by  unfeigned  attach- 
ment to  our  noble  and  inviolable  national  UNION;  by  self- 
sacrificing  devotion  to  the  vernacular  cause,  whenever  he 
apprehended  its  true  interest,  or  its  latent  foe,  or  its  real 
danger;  by  being  justly  and  on  proper  occasions  superior  to 
popular  clamor,  where  he  knew  and  could  distinguish  be- 
tween the  hosannahs  of  the  mob  and  the  fame  of  history; 
by  loving  party  only  for  his  country's  sake,  and  utterly  for- 
going it, when  it  seemed  to  stand  in  his  country's  way;  by 
illustrating,  dignus  discipulus  dignissimo  patre,  the  princi- 
ples of  the  school  of  WASHINGTON;  and  by  maintaining 
those  principles,  effulgent  and  true,  throughout  his  whole 
career  of  public  life.  Added  to  this,  indeed,  we  are  to 
credit  his  rare  endowments  and  capacities,  his  form  and 
bearing,  his  natural  and  oaken  eloquence,  his  grandeur  of 
person  and  persuasion  of  address,  his  nurture  among  the 
people,  his  nativity  and  growth  in  this  country,  and  the 
formative  times  and  crises  both  of  the  chivalrous  young 
State  of  his  adoption,  and  the  prodigious  and  wonder- 
working country  of  his  birth  and  his  affections — his  Ken- 
tucky and  his  America.  And  last,  not  least,  in  this  mighty 
host  of  consecutive  influences,  his  general  instinct  and 
homage  in  favor  of  religion;  his  sense,  luminous  and  manly, 
of  dependence  on  the  providence  and  care  of  the  Supreme 
B^ing— his  accountability  to  GOD,  the  truth  of  the  Bible, 
the  mission  of  the  SAVIOR,  the  destinations  of  eternity. 

248 


This  last  was  a  mighty  element  of  his  character — even 
when  he  quenched  its  flame,  counterworked  its  proper 
effects  by  yielding  to  temptation,  and  sinned  consciously, 
as  alas  !  such  millions  do,  against  its  tenderness,  its  per- 
suasion, and  its  warning  voice.  Still,.  HENRY  CLAY  was 
no  infidel.  In  his  deviations,  it  was  not  his  way  to 
disparage  and  condemn  religion,  in  order  to  frame  an  ex- 
cuse for  himself.  He  knew  that  religion  was  no  pensioner 
on  human  opinion,  or  praise,  or  conduct;  men  depending 
on  it,  not  it  on  men;  it  depending  alone  on  GOD,  its  author 
and  avenger;  and  GOD  depending  on  himself  alone — 
rather,  depending  not  at  all,  the  Being  of  Beings,  existing 
absolute,  necessary,  immutable,  perfect,  eternal,  JEHOVAH. 
For  the  last  half  century,  identified  so  nearly  with  the 
first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  so  pregnant  with  great 
events  throughout  all  Christendom,  the  events  of  our  polit- 
ical history  as  a  nation,  in  peace  and  in  war,  in  prosperity 
and  in  adversity,  in  tranquillity  and  in  agitation,  in  security 
and  in  fear,  in  hope  and  in  despondency — their  history 
could  not  be  written  without  writing  also  the  biography 
of  HENRY  CLAY.  He  was  complicated  with  them,  perpet- 
ually, prominently,  practically,  usefully,  honorably — and 
whether  in  office  and  in  public,  or  as  a  citizen  and  a  pa- 
triot in  private.  Without  a  correct  knowledge  of  the 
deeds  of  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS,  HENRY  CLAY  and  DANIEL 
WEBSTER,  that  great  national  triumvirate,  no  man  could 
write  the  history  of  that  distinguished  period.  And  no 
man  could  judge  correctly  of  their  public  acts,  especially 
— shall  I  say— of  the  acts  of  Mr.  CLAY,  without  some  ex- 
pansive comprehension  at  once  of  the  state  of  the  country, 
its  relation  to  other  nations,  and  the  peculiar  principles  of 
its  political  organization,  so  wonderfully  and  yet  harmo- 

249 


0b$ec)i|ies  of 

niously  constituted  and  compounded,  as  a  nation  of  na- 
tions, or  a  State  of  States,  THIRTY-ONE  from  THIRTEEN,  and 
to  be  augmented  by  still  greater  accessions  from  our  vast 
territories.  Here,  to  understand  a  part,  one  must  under- 
stand the  whole;  and  act  at  once  for  the  interests  of  the 
immense  national  body,  and  for  those  of  each  related  and 
constituent  member.  Here  impulse  is  often  in  conflict 
with  wisdom;  partial  regards  are  seemingly  irreconcila- 
ble with  those  provincial  or  universal;  the  strength  of 
government  tends  to  operate  menacingly  in  collision  with 
popular  rights;  and  the  balance  of  power,  and  the  adjust- 
ment of  interests,  in  so  multifarious  an  administration,  is  no 
problem  for  boys  to  solve,  or  for  men  of  one  idea,  or  even 
for  empyrics  and  parvenues  of  five !  or  for  any  thing  short 
of  illumined  American  statesmanship,  in  full  conjunction 
with  sound  patriotism  and  large  experience  and  resolute 
integrity.  Beside,  what  we  often  forget  in  the  plain,  of 
the  men  whom  WE,  THE  PEOPLE,  place  on  the  summit  of  the 
pyramid  of  office,  as  our  servants  and  our  targets,  as  well 
as  our  spectacles  and  our  themes  of  calumny,  we  solemnly 
swear  them,  when  they  take  office,  to  abide  by  the  consti- 
tution, to  be  incorruptible  and  impartial,  and  to  seek  the 
common  good  of  the  people,  even  against  their  importuni- 
ties, and  in  spite  of  their  criticisms  and  complaints,  for  the 
moment.  This  is  no  easy  task  for  sentient  flesh  and  blood 
to  perform — and  when  I  think  of  this,  justice  tells  me,  to 
respect  the  rulers  and  the  magistrates  of  my  country;  to 
construe  kindly,  and  magnanimously,  and  with  liberal  al- 
lowance, all  their  public  acts,  and  even  their  private  con- 
duct; to  pray  for  them,  and  to  remember  that  it  is  one  thing 
to  supersede  them  in  office,  and  often  quite  another  to  re- 
place them  with  their  superiors. 

250 


8! 


ihnftjeigt). 


Will  the  episode  be  allowed  me,  not  wholly  inappropri- 
ate, if  I  venture  to  remind  you  of  ten  great  principles, 
which  are  properly  fundamental  to  all  others,  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  our  country — a  decade  of  main  principles,  with- 
out honoring  which,  we  may  boldly  aver,  no  man  is  fit  for 
office  in  it,  unless  inconsistency  and  perjury  are  among  the 
prime  of  his  qualifications;  principles,  we  believe,  which 
no  man  better  understood  and  exemplified  than  our  exalted 
senator  and  statesman;  and  without  approving  which,  no 
man  is  competent  to  judge  his  acts  or  qualified  to  under- 
stand them;  and  to  oppose  which,  ought  to  be  a  brand  on 
the  face  of  any  citizen,  who  in  that  way  should  practice 
implicit  treason,  deserving  a  sentence  of  popular  relega- 
tion from  the  country,  still  too  good  to  harbor  such  a  par- 
ricide in  the  capacious  and  genial  bosom  of  its  own  out- 
raged maternity. 

1.  All  governments  on  earth,  as  fabrics,  human  in  form 
and  movement,  all  political  organizations  and  administra- 
tions, as  history  too  copiously  shows,  are  imperfect;  and 
hence  though  improvements  are  to  be  expected,  and  wisely 
sought  and  attempted,  in  the  progressions  of  society,  yet 
perfection,  as  a  practical  reality,  will  not  be  enjoyed  in 
the  present  world. 

2.  The  character  of  government  is  therefore  compara- 
tive, as  better  or  worse,  on  a  scale  of  many  gradations; 
while  that  of  our  country,  we  well  and  wisely  accredit,  as 

relatively  the  least  faulty,  and  therefore  the  best  in  the 
world. 

3.  THE  UNION  OF  OUR  STATES  in  one  grand  nationality, 
is  the  great  fundamental  and  the  normal  and  the  indispen- 
sable condition,  at  once  of  our  strength,  and  our  safety, 
and  our  perpetuity,  and  our  prosperity,  if  not  properly  of 


'""'v  \'Sm '' 


our  being,  as  a  people,  and  a  nation,  and  a  powerful  re- 
public among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

4.  In  order  to  this,  concessions  and  compromises,  as  well 
as  faithfnl    covenant-keeping,   are   absolutely  necessary, 
among  the  causes  sine  qua  non  of  our  confederated  and  our 
national  existence. 

5.  The  supremacy  of  mind  over  matter,  that  is  the  sub- 
ordination of  the  military  to  the  civil  power,  the  sword  to 
the  pen,  the  army  and  the  navy  to  the  law-making  and  the 
law-interpreting  and  the  law-executing  functions;  so  that 
the  proper  magistracy  of  the  country  shall  be  the  central 
mind  of  its  government ;  this  is  AMERICANISM,  THIS  OUR 
WISDOM. 

6.  The  inviolableness  of  the  CONSTITUTION,  with  the  just 
interpretation  and  the  due  performance  of  all  its  provisions. 

7.  The  moral  omnipotence  of  law;  which,  as  law,  is  not 
to  be  resisted  anywhere;  but  must  ever  be  despotic  and 
supreme,  while  it  remains  law;  or,  the  rights  of  the  people 
are  gone,  protection  is  defunct,  and  the  individual  is  neither 
safe,  nor  free,  at  home  or  abroad,  in  seclusion  or  in  society. 

8.  The  subordinate   independence   and   distinct   sover- 
eignty of  each  state  in  the  confederacy,  with  all  its  con- 
stitutional prerogatives  and  rights,  in  its  own  jurisdiction 
and  sphere. 

9.  The  rights  of  legislation,  representation,  petition,  and 
free  speech,  to  all;  with  that  of  the  ballot-box,  as  the  mas- 
terly resource  of  freemen. 

10.  Religious  freedom,  with  Church  and  State  mutually 
related  and  serviceable,  but  not  united;  and  the  rights  of 
conscience  universally  and  impartially  protected. 

Let  a  man  digest  these  principles,  before  he  presumes  to 
censure  our  great  statesmen,  who,  for  generations  and  for 

252 


ftenfjj  Glijjj. 


ages  now,  and  in  times  of  peril  and  experiment,  when  pre- 
cedents were  less  to  be  followed  than  created,  have  figured 
with  honor  and  consistency  in  the  service  of  their  country. 
Their  posts  have  been  difficult,  their  duties  arduous,  their 
perils  formidable,  their  acts  stupendous,  and  their  great 
success  a  glorious  innovation  on  the  scroll  of  universal 
history.  As  for  HENRY  CLAY — great  without  our  highest 
office,  I  feel  profoundly  how  much,  under  God,  the  whole 
nation  is  his  debtor;  and  now,  to  pay  that  debt,  is  for- 
ever impossible.  History  will  write  his  eulogium.  Pus- 
terity  will  do  him  justice. 

His  country's  heart  is  his  funeral  urn — 
And  should  sculptured  stone  be  denied  him, 

There  will  his  name  be  found,  when  in  turn 
We  lay  our  heads  beside  him. 

HENRY  CLAY  was  born  in  Virginia,  that  state  of  so 
many  classic  nativities  and  renowned  memories  in  our 
country's  annals,  on  the  twelfth  of  April,  seventeen  hundred 
and  seventy-seven,  in  the  commencement  of  the  war,  about 
nine  months  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  He 
was  the  son  of  a  worthy  clergyman,  whose  early  exit,  left 
him  in  tender  years  to  the  care  and  kindness  of  a  worthy 
mother — bless  her  memory !  who  laid  the  foundation  of 
all  that  was  good  and  great  in  his  maturer  life,  by  sowing 
in  a  rich  soil  the  seeds  of  Christian  wisdom;  thence  illus- 
trating the  excellent  stanza  of  Watts, 

Though  seed  lie  buried  long  in  dust 

It  shant  deceive  the  hope; 
The  precious  grain  can  ne'er  be  lost 

For  grace  insures  the  crop. 

He  struggled  with  no  common  difficulties  in  his  nurture 
and  development — but  I  am  not  his  biographer,  in  this 
rapid  sketch  of  approximations.  His  success  was  such  as 

253 


of 


wealth  and  outward  prosperity  could  never  have  secured 
to  him.  Adversity,  a  rude  nurse,  but  oft  a  useful  one, 
trained  him  and  developed  him,  as  no  palace  could,  for 
great  thoughts  and  mighty  deeds. 

His  mind  was  distinguished  for  originality  and  strength. 
His  intelligence  was  sound  and  his  knowledge  digested 
and  accurate.  His  magnanimity  was  proverbial,  the  better 
counterpart  of  his  large  majestic  frame.  His  courage  Avas 
not  fool-hardy  or  inconsiderate;  but  there  was  enough  of 
it,  always  of  the  right  kind,  to  meet  any  emergency.  His 
self-command  was  remarkable.  He  fixed  it  in  his  mind, 
that,  to  lose  his  balance  would  never  assist  his  strength  or 
aid  his  victory;  and  few  men  have  lived  with  a  COMPOS  sui 
more  rational  and  philosophic,  or  more  commonly  "  har- 
nessed in  order  serviceable."  In  the  forum,  or  among  sur- 
rounding and  enthusiastic  multitudes,  or  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  or  the  Speaker's  chair,  or  the  senate  "grave 
with  primate  wisdom,"  he  was  always  sure  of  his  identity 
as  HENRY  CLAY;  with  character,  and  plan,  and  object,  and 
principle,  that  made  others  sure  of  the  same.  His  perse- 
verance was  wonderful  and  his  power  of  achievement  was 
its  result.  His  natural  eloquence  was  real;  but  like  DE- 
MOSTHENES and  CICERO  and  BURKE  and  AMES,  he  tried  to 
make  five  talents  ten — and  he  succeeded.  His  eloquence 
is  a  vernacular  model;  and  many  an  unborn  youth  will  it 
yet  inspire,  and  many  a  young  politician  shall  it  hereafter 
discipline,  to  feel  that,  in  a  legitimate  way,  they  also  can 
rise,  can  be  something,  and  do  something,  for  the  country, 
to  vindicate  their  title  to  the  honors  of  American  birth- 
right and  American  citizenship.  And  who  could  be  an  ex- 
emplar or  a  counselor,  for  our  youthful  Americans,  more 
safe,  more  true,  more  just,  more  noble  than  HENRY  CLAY. 

254 


It  were  worthy  of  a  master  hand  to  portray  our  illustrious 
statesman,  in  some  of  those  scenes  of  peril  and  perplexity, 
as  of  honor  and  conspicuity  and  noble  service  to  his  coun- 
try, in  which  he  at  once  figured  well,  and  acted  gallantly, 
and  was  greatly  tried,  and  showed  in  the  result  eminently 
prosperous,  and  enviably  victorious,  in  the  memorable 
arena.  A  few  of  these  I  select  and  mention,  though  I  scarce 
can  venture  more.  I  pass  all  the  initial  stages  of  his  ardent 
juvenility  and  his  chivalrous  behavior;  all  the  scenery  of  his 
introduction  to  public  life  and  the  councils  of  his  country; 
all  the  ways  in  which  he  conciliated  the  love  and  the  con- 
fidence of  his  countrymen,  and  won  the  admiration  of  man- 
kind; all  his  development  and  rise  in  congress,  and  all  his 
popularity  in  the  nation  at  large;  and  mention  only  a  few 
of  the  maturer  and  the  later  passages  of  his  history,  in 
which,  with  many  others,  I  own  that  I  have  peculiarly  ad- 
mired him. 

1.  At  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  as  one  of  the  five  American 
Commissioners,  by  whose  wise  and  masterly  diplomacy 
PEACE  was  negotiated.  His  colleagues  were  JOHN  QUINCY 
ADAMS,  ALBERT  GALLATIN,  JAMES  A.  BAYARD  and  JONA- 
THAN RUSSELL;  and  their  British  opponents  were  the  Right 
Honorable  Lord  GAMBIER,  and  the  Honorable  HEXRY 
GOULBURN  and  WILLIAM  ADAMS.  In  that  august  conven- 
tion, while  the  American  power  and  tact  were  radiant  and 
ascendant,  inspiring  a  just  deference  in  the  British  Commis- 
sioners which  they  did  not  anticipate;  while  each  of  the  five 
that  represented  America,  was  excellent  in  some  peculiar 
way,  and  all  combined  were  quite  superior  to  all  the  antag- 
onist forces  on  the  part  of  King  George,  that  is,  the  Prince 
Regent,  it  is  well  known  that  the  influence  and  power  of 
HENRY  CLAY  were  much  credited  and  renowned  in  the  ar- 


Obsequies  of 


duous  process  and  the  pacific  result.  True  indeed,  the  state 
of  things  in  Europe  and  some  casual  events  conspired  to  fa- 
vor pacification.  The  cabinets  of  the  continent,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  that  of  insular  Europe,  were  all  astir  with  ominous 
preparation;  alliances  were  forming,  and  armies  preparing, 
and  prognostications  circulating  about  the  state  of  things 
and  their  drear  issues,  just  before  the  great  battle  of 
Waterloo,  which  achieved  the  downfall  of  NAPOLEON  :  and 
now  it  was  quite  inconvenient  for  England  to  be  at  war  in 
any  other  direction.  But — none  the  less  were  the  talent 
and  the  bravery  of  our  Commissioners  to  be  esteemed  and 
praised,  as  more  than  a  match  for  their  opponents  in  the 
whole  engagement.  It  is  sufficient  for  my  purpose  in  this 
sketch  to  add,  that  among  his  peers  the  genius  and  the  ad- 
dress of  CLAY  did  signal  service  to  our  cause.  They  all 
figured  in  the  eye  of  Europe  and  the  world;  they  were  all 
well  selected  and  admirably  combined;  but  among  them 
HENEY  CLAY,  PRIMUS  INTEB  PARES,  if  not  FACILE  PRINCEPS, 
exerted  a  commanding  influence,  is  said  to  have  impressed 
usefully  the  British  negotiators,  and  was  owned  by  his  col- 
leagues as  having  contributed  greatly  to  the  happy  con- 
summation. 

2.  After  his  return,  his  services  to  the  country  were  still 
continued  and  still  distinguished,  eminently  masterly  and 
eminently  beneficial;  till,  on  the  accession  of  Mr.  ADAMS 
to  the  Presidency  in  1825,  Mr.  CLAY  accepted  the  office 
of  Secretary  of  State — and  however  misunderstood  and 
misrepresented  in  that  entire  transaction,  it  is  now  con- 
fessed and  known,  that  no  bargain,  no  corruption,  no  collu- 
sion, no  duplicity,  but  only  reasonable  and  honorable  man- 
agement, at  the  time,  constrained  him,  in  accepting  a  seat 
in  the  cabinet  of  Mr.  ADAMS,  as  in  ordering  or  aiding  the 

256 


'.'''  if e iH*j|  C 


operation  of  the  antecedents  that  led  to  it.  He  filled  the 
office  with  no  injury,  but  only  with  increasing  tributes  to 
his  culminating  fame,  and  the  good  of  his  country. 

3.  In  1844  his  name  was  before  the  people  in  the  presi- 
dential canvass.     I  name  this,  passing  many  allied  topics 
that  obtrude  themselves  on  our  recollection,  only  to  say, 
not  that  after  a  close  and  perilous  contest,  his  friends  and 
voters  were  defeated,  but  that  the  manner  in  which  he  bore 
the  disappointment,  evinced  magnificently  the  superiority 
of  the  great  national  patriarch,  who  had  other  resources  and 
compensations  than  popular   appreciation,   and   who,  we 
know,  "  had  rather  be  EIGHT  than  be  PRESIDENT."    Was 
he  sullen  or  morose;  did  he  retire  in  the  spirit  of  vindic- 
tive misanthropy;  was  his  patriotism  worn  out  or  its  oc- 
cupation gone  ?  none  of  these  !     He  was  HENRY  CLAY  af- 
terward; only  emerging  from  the  civic  agony,  more  a  phi- 
losopher, more  the  genuine  son  of  the  nation,  more  the 
American  Nestor,  than  he  was  before !     To  such  a  noble 
of  the  republic,  the  presidential   chair  could  confer  no 
greatness;  to  such  a  patriot,  a  kingly  throne  would  be  a 
degradation. 

4.  In  1850,  though  now  in  his  seventy-fourth  year,  the 
infirmities  of  age  requiring  his  release  from  fatigue  and 
care  amid  the  rural  solaces  of  his  loved  ASHLAXD,  his  tran- 
quil, hospitable  home,  yet  it  was  a  national  crisis;  and 
HEXRY  CLAY  was  at  his  post,  with  WEBSTER,  and  FILL- 
MORE,  and  other  men  of  might,  at  WASHINGTON,  meeting 
that  crisis,  and  elaborately  effectuating  the  pacification  of 
the  country.     Oh !  it  was  a  time  of  gloom  and  perplexity. 
Questions  complicated  were  to  be  met  and  resolved,  rela- 
tions in  many  a  labyrinth  were  to  be  harmonized,  friends 
and  foes  to  conciliate,  north  and  south  to  be  affianced  in  a 


Obsequies  of 


mutual  and  inviolable  pact,  concessions  and  compromises 
adjusted,  and  the  whole  completed,  defended,  enacted,  till 
in  eventful  consummation  the  whole  was  done  and  estab- 
lished. And  for  this,  shall  we  censure  and  denounce  him, 
or  praise  and  thank  him  only  ?  Here  indeed  opinions  vary 
—since  men  of  impulse,  party,  short-sightedness,  prejudice, 
of  one  idea — or  at  most  of  two  or  three,  are  all  at  variance 
with  him;  nor  am  I  the  one  to  re-echo  their  tirades  of  mal- 
ediction, their  vile  and  blasphemous  opprobriums.  The 
casuistry  of  the  matter  is  in  the  abstract  here — half  a  loaf 
is  better  than  no  bread,  especially  to  a  starving  man;  bet- 
ter this,  with  some  deductions  and  privations  entailed,  than 
blood  and  murder  and  civil  war  inaugurated  in  all  the  na- 
tion; this,  rather  than  a  worse  alternative,  an  infinitely 
worse  one;  this,  when  the  worse  was  the  only  alternative — 
and  all  men  of  reflection  and  serenity  knew  it,  felt  it,  appre- 
ciated it,  and  did  in  the  circumstances  the  best  they  could ! 

Yes !  says  one,  but  why  not  set  the  slaves  all  free  at 
once,  and  be  done  with  it?  sure  enough — and  why  does 
not  the  querist  do  it  himself?  He  is  just  exactly  as  able 
to  do  it,  as  was  HENRY  CLAY.  Shame  to  the  wicked  sim- 
pletons. Mr.  CLAY  knew  what  he  was  about,  was  superior 
to  the  asinine  clamor  and  objurgation  which  he  both  antici- 
pated and  compassionated  or  despised.  He  did  the  best 
he  could  in  the  circumstances  and  relations  in  which  he 
acted,  with  such  far-reaching  wisdom,  such  comprehension, 
such  vigor,  such  consistency,  and  such  resulting  good  to 
all  concerned,  that  now  the  whole  nation  are  beginning  to 
see  and  own  it — and  woe  to  the  busy  pragmatical  lunatic, 
who  attempts  wildly  to  disturb  that  result  or  to  do  mis- 
chief in  the  premises  in  any  other  way ! 

5.  See  him  again  in  his  own  death  chamber,  last  winter, 

258 


tfenrjjGiqlj. 


in  his  interview  with  KOSSUTH.  "  As  a  dying  man  I  de- 
nounce your  doctrine  and  your  plan  of  intervention,"  said 
he,  to  the  startled  Hungarian  Governor.  There  it  is,  MUL- 
TUM  IN  PARVO!  I  denounce  it  too.  What!  are  we  to  go 
a  crusade  to  set  things  right,  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet, 
in  all  Europe,  and  in  all  the  world  ?  and  this  with  the 
stupid  self-contradictory  paradox  of — INTERVENTION  FOR 
THE  SAKE  OP  NON-INTERVENTION  ?  This  I  hope  will  be  ad- 
ministered, if  at  all,  in  very  infinitesimal  doses;  though  its 
grand  principle  would  reverse  the  apophthegm  of  SIMILIA 
SIMILIBUS  CURANTUR.  Our  doctrine,  as  taught  us  by  WASH- 
INGTON and  all  the  fathers  of  the  republic,  is  far  better — 

FREE  INTERCOURSE  WITH  ALL  NATIONS;  ENTANGLING-  ALLI- 
ANCES WITH  NONE.  Should  we  march  to  Hungary,  or  to 
Vienna,  or  St.  Petersburgh,  in  the  cause  of  the  Great 
Magyar,  we  could  soon  do  a  wholesale  business  in  that  way. 
We  might  stop  at  France  on  our  march,  and  teach  their 
young  nephew  of  his  uncle  some  lessons  of  duty  about 
keeping  his  oath  of  office  to  the  adjourned  republic.  We 
could  find  also  some  employment  for  our  reforming  arms 
in  England  itself — and  then  in  Italy,  in  Greece,  in  Turkey, 
and  a  thousand  other  places.  No!  Our  wisdom  is  to 
keep  clear  the  logic  and  the  rhetoric  of  our  republican  ex- 
ample. This  will  teach  lessons  that  must  convince  even 
tyrants  themselves.  It  will  go  where  electricity  itself  can- 
not follow  it — into  the  consciences  of  all  men.  This  we 
can  always  consistently  and  legitimately  do,  and  none  can 
blame,  none  refute  us.  The  other  plan — quixotic  as  well 
as  impracticable,  would  exhaust  our  national  resources, 
waste  our  blood  and  our  treasure  in  foreign  continents  and 
oceans,  insure  signal  and  ignominious  defeat,  make  us  the 
laughing-stock  of  Europe  and  the  pity  of  the  world.  Some- 

259 


0bsc(ji|ie$  of 


times  indeed  our  example  may  be  specially  direct,  and  even 
aggressive,  in  its  action.  We  may  serve  them  with  some 
documentary  American  logic,  like  that  of  the  immortal 
HULLSEMAN  paper,  in  which  our  Great  Secretary  of  State, 
with  characteristic  thunder  in  a  clear  sky,  or  visible  light- 
ning in  the  darkness  of  a  transatlantic  atmosphere,  uttered 
the  protect  of  freemen  with  consternation  to  the  smitten 
heart  of  despotism. 

Look  again  to  his  death-bed  chamber  and  reconnoiter 
with  me,  that  memorable  scene — contemplate  it,  so  pictur- 
esque, so  characteristic,  so  instructive,  such  a  lesson  for 
our  country,  such  a  demonstration  of  wisdom,  and  courage, 
and  sincerity,  truly  American !  Were  I  a  painter,  or  a 
gifted  artist  of  the  chisel,  and  endowed  with  fame-enact- 
ing genius,  as  a  GUIDO,  a  RUBENS,  a  VANDYCK,  a  RAPHAEL, 
a  PHIDIAS,  or  a  PRAXITELES,  that  scene  should  always 
speak  to  posterity.  The  breathing  marble,  or  the  sculp- 
tured stone,  or  the  grouping  and  more  social  canvas, 
should  rehearse  the  lesson,  with  lucid  and  impressive  and 
almost  living,  certainly  enduring  eloquence,  to  unborn 
generations  of  Americans.  What  a  scene  of  grandeur, 
I  repeat  it,  for  some  favored  devotee  of  the  fine  arts — 
who  is  at  the  same  time  an  intelligent  lover  of  his  coun- 
try !  It  might  be  done,  with  power  intelligible  and  electric. 
It  has  in  it  all  the  elements  that  should  stimulate  native 
talent  and  reward  artistic  enterprise,  and  make,  for  its 
own  graphic  achievement,  a  coronation,  and  an  ovation  in 
the  country — elements  of  sublimity,  of  sapient  instruction, 
of  patriotic  statesmanship,  of  Christian  self-possession,  of 
oraculous  solemnity,  of  fortitude  invincible  snd  of  un- 
changeable policy,  and  of  example  national,  stupendous, 
magnanimous,  never  to  be  forgotten;  anticipating,  for  the 

2CO 


reproductive  art,  that  immortality  of  fame,  which  the  excel- 
lence of  the  sentiment,  so  deservedly  national,  so  justly 
American,  must  receive  at  last  from  the  sober  and  the  hon- 
orary registrations  of  history. 

KOSSUTH  indeed  advocated  the  noble  doctrine  of  the  so- 
dality of  nations — and  with  him  we  both  admire  and  be- 
lieve it;  nay,  in  a  qualified  sense,  we  go  it  with  him — but, 
in  his  way,  not  at  all !  No,  indeed !  Our  wisdom  is  still 
identified,  on  the  contrary,  with  that  of  the  FAREWELL 
ADDKESS  of  the  FATHER  OF  HIS  COUNTRY;  which  we  brook 
no  stranger  to  expound,  or  rectify,  or  pervert,  for  us.  Our 
doctrine  is  at  once  with  that  protest  of  the  dying  senator; 
and  as  such,  orthodox,  tried,  American. 

We  laud  the  sentiment ;  but,  for  the  way. 
The  Great  Magyar  we  doubt — and  more  obey 
Our  WASHINGTON,  our  WEBSTER,  and  our  CL.AY. 

6.  It  remains,  for  a  moment,  to  contemplate  HENRY 
CLAY  in  the  chamber  of  death;  where,  prisoned  so  long,  he 
could  meditate,  and  pray,  and  seek  his  GOD,  with  the  sol- 
emn consciousness  that  soon  he  must  appear,  accountable 
before  him !  Yes  !  and  this,  we  think,  with  reason,  he  did. 
GOD  dealt  with  him  in  merciful  loving-kindness.  Gradual 
was  the  approach  of  death,  the  last  enemy;  and  its  illapse 
was  gentle,  gradual,  seen  only  in  result,  "as  sinks  the 
summer's  sun  in  cloudless  sky."  There,  with  his  ser- 
vant and  his  pastor,  he  received  the  communion:  professed 
his  faith  and  his  hope  in  JESUS  CHRIST  alone;  confessed, 
with  humiliation,  his  sins;  and  on  his  bended  knees,  when 
he  could,  and  on  his  bed  when  this  was  all  his  strength  al- 
lowed, before  the  apprehended  and  holy  majesty  of  Al- 
mighty GOD,  only  wise,  and  in  the  name  of  the  gracious 
Redeemer  and  Savior  of  the  lost,  who  came  into  the  world 

261 


!•'  Obsequies  of 


£o  save  sinners,  even  the  chief,  who  died  for  us  on  the  cross,  in 
whom  we  have  redemption  through  his  blood,  the  forgiveness  of 
sins  according  to  the  riches  of  his  grace,  he  often  and  devoutly 
prayed,  for  pardoning  grace  and  full  salvation;  he  prayed 
for  his  friends,  for  his  country,  for  the  Church  of  GOD,  for 
the  world  of  man,  commending  himself  and  all  he  chiefly 
loved  and  valued,  to  the  grace  and  care  of  our  FATHER  and 
our  GOD,  our  SOVEREIGN  and  our  SAVIOR,  forever. 

And  now,  what  shall  we  say  ?  I  answer  with  two  con- 
cessions— He  had  faults  and  sins; — He  had  foes  hardly  to 
be  placated  or  reconciled. 

How  could  a  man  so  eminent  as  CLAY 

Not  be  a  target  for  the  hosts  beneath  ? 
Star  in  the  darkness,  with  potential  sway 
tHe  shone,  a  sun  that  changed  it  into  a  day  ; 

While  listening  Senates,  hearing,  held  their  breath, 

Defeated  rivals,  rigorous  as  death, 
Found  him  the  hindrance  in  ambition's  way  ; 
Envied  his  fame  and  grudged  its  bright  display. 
Such  ever  is  of  genius  the  career, 
The  meed  of  talents  faithful  in  their  sphere. 
He  who  ascends  the  mountain  crest  shall  find 

Its  loftiest  peak  most  wrapt  in  cloud  and  snow; 
As  who  surpasses  or  subdues  mankind 

Must  look  down  on  the  hate  of  those  below; 

Though  far  above  the  sun  of  glory  glow, 
As  far  beneath  the  earth  and  ocean  spread, 

Round  him  are  icy  rocks,  and  fiercely  blow, 
Contending  tempests  on  his  naked  head  ; 

And  thus  reward  the  toils  and  cares  that  to  those  summits  led. 
Hence  who  aspires,  distinguished,  prosperous,  high, 
Meets  thunder — from  the  earth,  if  not  the  sky. 
Even  patriot  chiefs  must  find  ungrateful  war, 
Or  win  too  late  their  just — EXCELSIOR. 
So  while  he  lived  as  glory's  first-born  son 
And  freedom's  sire,  it  raged  on  WASHINGTON. 
With  fame  in  just  proportion  envy  grows, 
And  he  who  makes  a  character  makes  foes. 
Some  in  such  carnivals  alone  are  seen ; 


fteorlj  Clujj. 


On  others'  greatness  feasts  their  envy  keen ; 
Great  only  in  the  ravage  of  their  spleen. 
Yet  greatness  scorns  or  quite  forgets  their  rage 
While  worthy  purposes  its  thought  engage. 
The  alternative,  ignoble,  craven,  mean, 

Obscure  as  nothing,  thwarting  glory's  plan; 

No  !  do  your  duty,  show  yourself  a  man, 
Nor  useless  live,  dying  unblest,  unseen — 

Your  warrant  this — I'M  AIT  AMERICAN. 
Thus,  come  what  will,  the  patriot  Christian  dares 
To  think,  speak,  act,  with  wisdom's  sacred  cares  ; 
Serve  GOD,  bless  men,  trust  truth,  do  right,  with  praises  and  with  prayers. 

[Altered  and  enlarged  from  a  known  quotation.] 

As  to  the  former,  his  faults  and  sins,  my  argument  is 
brief.  If  angels  rejoice  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth,  who 
are  you,  0  cruel  caviler,  to  send  your  dissonance  into  their 
harmony,  or  utter  your  groans  of  malignity  among  their 
pteans  and  praises  to  the  grace  that  reigneth,  through  right- 
eousness to  eternal  life,  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  ?  Let  him 
that  is  without  sin  among  you  cast  at  him  the  first  stone.  He 
had  sins  ?  I  know  it — in  part;  GOD  knows  it  altogether; 
knows  the  same  of  you  and  of  me !  What  if  GOD  also 
knows  that  HENRY  CLAY  was  a  sincere  penitent— as  he 
solemnly  professed  to  be?  Then  is  he  now  in  heaven, 
among  the  glorified  millions  of  the  ransomed  of  the  Lamb. 
Better  employed  than  caviling,  and  grudging  the  persua- 
sion, which  so  much  evidence  sustains,  that  his  great  heart 
broke  with  the  love  of  CHRIST  and  dissolved  in  penitence 
at  his  feet,  by  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  better  em- 
ployed, I  say,  should  we  all  be,  in  searching  and  seeking  to 
secure  our  own  preparation  for  glory,  before  that  dread  mo- 
ment, when  death,  at  the  order  of  the  Son  of  Man,  sweeps  us 
away  from  the  vision  of  the  living.  Here  I  wish  to  forget 
all  his  faults  and  all  his  sins;  being  a  sinner  myself,  hum- 
bly hoping  for  forgiveness  and  acceptance  in  the  BELOVED. 

263 


05  series  of 


In  all  the  life  and  actions  of  HENRY  CLAY,  however  far 
his  deviations  might  at  times  have  gone,  there  appears, 
on  just  and  peculiar  occasions,  a  noble  and  sincere  re- 
morse, that  did  homage  to  GOD  and  goodness,  boldly,  in 
the  eye  and  ear  of  the  observant  world.  All  his  great 
speeches,  and  often  his  brief  and  incidental  ones,  more  or 
less  evince  his  deep  religious  convictions,  and  contain  hon- 
est tribute  to  the  inspired  and  eternal  truth  of  Christi- 
anity. I  remember  one,  and  can  in  the  main,  or  in  its 
drift,  reproduce  it;  which  affected  many  at  the  time,  and 
myself  with  others,  about  twenty  or  more  years  ago,  when 
the  Asiatic  cholera  was  giving  signs  of  a  visit  to  our  coun- 
try, after  having  coursed  its  way  of  desolation  round  the 
globe;  seeming  like  the  angel  of  wrath,  hovering  on  our 
borders,  displayed  at  meridian  altitude  in  the  midst  of 
heaven,  bending  his  bow  and  brandishing  his  shafts,  and 
awaiting  the  signal  from  the  throne  of  GOD,  to  take  his 
fatal  aim,  and  empty  his  capacious  quiver,  on  places  and 
on  victims  selected  for  doom.  It  was  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  that  he  uttered  his  solemn  and  appropriate 
eloquence;  so  apposite  to  the  formidable  crisis,  when  Eu- 
rope was  in  funereal  weeds;  so  corresponsive  to  the  relig- 
ious awe  of  our  favored  and  guilty  people,  before  high 
heaven,  at  a  time  so  proper  for  solemnity  and  humiliation, 
that  GOD  might  see  before  him  a  universe  in  tears,  a  na- 
tion at  his  feet,  a  whole  people,  with  their  conscious  mil- 
lions, deprecating  his  terrific  and  righteous  judgments,  and 
supplicating,  0  Lord,  in  wrath  remember  mercy  !  His  words 
were  good  and  true.  "  I  am  not/7  said  he,  "  a  Christian. 
I  ought  to  be,  I  wish  I  was;  I  hope  I  shall  be,  ere  long. 
At  such  an  hour,  we  ought  all  to  be  prepared.  This  pesti- 
lence is  the  terror  of  nations  and  the  scourcre 


Who  can  stand  before  it  ?  It  is  the  cholera  asphyxia, 
which  with  force  electric  sheds  paralysis  through  the  hu- 
man frame,  when  the  muscular  and  the  nervous  powers 
obey  no  more  the  will,  and  the  mass  of  the  smitten  body 
collapses  in  inexorable  death.  It  goes,  sir,  where  it  is 
sent.  No  prophylactic  skill  can  parry  its  assault.  Sci- 
ence knows  not  its  way,  and  prognosis  attempts  in  vain  to 
forecast  the  place  of  its  revel  or  the  path  of  its  commis- 
sioned progress.  (TOD  alone  can  defend  our  country  or 
limit  its  desolations." 

There  is  one,  a  worthy  colleague,  formerly  of  the  Senate, 
whom  I  have  known  and  honored  increasingly,  now  for 
more  than  forty  years ;  who  deserved  the  confidence  of 
HENRY  CLAY,  and  knew  from  converse  and  correspondence 
with  him,  more  of  his  religious  heart  probably  than  any 
other  person;  and  whose  sound  Christian  faith  and  immac- 
ulate Christian  example,  were,  in  my  own  judgment,  blest  to 
his  arrested  and  confiding  regard;  and  whose  pure  and 
sound  intelligence,  as  a  judge  in  these  sacred  relations, 
there  lives  no  one  to  question;  such  a  one,  whose  opinion 
in  his  favor  might  well  sway  and  accomplish  ours,  touching 
his  Christian  sincerity  of  faith;  whose  letters  and  counsel 
to  him,  were  worthy  of  the  confidential  affection  with 
which  they  were  always  received  and  answered ;  and  whose 
influence  was,  I  trust,  used  and  owned  of  GOD,  to  render 
him  a  brother  in  the  kingdom,  and  a  friend  to  all  eternity, 
in  the  loves  and  the  hopes  of  the  Redeemer.  I  allude  to 
the  President  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  and  my  own 
personal  friend,  HONORABLE  THEODORE  FRELINGHUYSKX, 
LL.  D..  late  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  the  city  of 
New  York;  now  President  of  Rutgers'  College,  New 
Brunswick,  New  Jersey. 

265 


of 


As  to^the  foes  of  CLAY,  I  trust  there  are  very  few  of 
posthumous  continuance — very  few  remaining- — few  hyenas 
of  the  genus  homo,  conscious  or  confessed,  now  to  dese- 
crate the  sleep  of  the  grave !  For  one  foe  he  had  compar- 
atively twenty  friends — I  should  rather  say,  five  hundred, 
throughout  the  nation;  Whig  and  Democrat,  Slaveholder 
and  Abolitionist,  Protestant  and  Romanist,  Episcopalian 
and^Baptist,  Methodist  and  Presbyterian,  Black  and  White, 
Bond  and  Free,  Indian  and  Mulatto,  Native  and  Adopted, 
Jew  and  Quaker,  ay !  and  all  Americans  are  now  the  friends 
of  HENRY  CLAY,  as  they  are  of  his  great  archetype,  WASH- 
INGTON. As  to  the  foes  he  had,  alas  !  what  great  man  has 
them  not,  especially  if  he  acts  in  public  life  ?  if  there  he 
has  an  opinion  of  his  own,  and  speaks  it  ?  if  he  takes  a  po- 
sition, and  maintains  it?  if  he  is  not  in  the  market  to  be 
bought  or  sold,  but  acts  as  truth  and  duty  seem  to  him 
clearly  to  marshal  his  way  ?  There  is  reason  for  the  woe 
pronounced  on  that  piece  of  imbecility,  of  whom  all  men  speak 
well !  Prejudice,  ignorance,  selfishness,  partyism,  narrow 
views,  wrorig-headedness,  mental  wildness,  natural  ferocity 
of  character,  superficial  thinking,  partial  conceits,  and  so- 
cial meanness;  these  abounding  vices  of  society  may  account 
for  it,  that  some,  nay,  many  of  the  greatest  and^the  best  in 
human  form,  thus  far  vouchsafed  from  heaven  to  earth, 
have  been  the  most  hated  by  many  of  their  cotemporaries 
— who,  after  death,  mingle  in  the  wail  of  the  general  be- 
reavement, and  build  their  sepulchres,  as  if  their  best 
friends'  corpses  were  resting  in  them?  The  man  most 
hated  in  his  life,  and  most  murdered  in  his  death,  by  men 
on  earth,  was — our  blessed  Savior,  the  LORD  from  heaven 
— the  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


266 


OBITUARY  ADDRESSES 


OCCASION    OF    THE    DEATH 


HON.   HENRY  CLAY, 


DELIVERED    IN    THE 


SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 
JUNE   30,   1852. 


SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 


After  the  reading  of  the  Journal,  Mr.  UNDERWOOD 
rose  and  addressed  the  Senate,  as  follows: 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  I  rise  to  announce  the  death  of  my 
colleague,  Mr.  CLAY.  He  died  at  his  lodgings,  in  the 
National  Hotel  of  this  city,  at  seventeen  minutes  past 
eleven  o'clock  yesterday  morning,  in  the  seventy-sixth 
year  of  his  age.  He  expired  with  perfect  composure,  and 
without  a  groan  or  struggle. 

By  his  death  our  country  has  lost  one  of  its  most  emi- 
nent citizens  and  statesmen;  and,  I  think,  its  greatest 
genius.  I  shall  not  detain  the  Senate  by  narrating  the 
transactions  of  his  long  and  useful  life.  His  distinguished 
services  as  a  statesman  are  inseparably  connected  with  the 
history  of  his  country.  As  Representative  and  Speaker 
in  the  other  house  of  Congress,  as  Senator  in  this  body, 
as  Secretary  of  State,  and  as  Envoy  abroad,  he  has,  in  all 
these  positions,  exhibited  a  wisdom  and  patriotism  which 
have  made  a  deep  and  lasting  impression  upon  the  grateful 
hearts  of  his  countrymen.  His  thoughts  and  his  actions 
have  already  been  published  to  the  world  in  written  biog- 
raphy; in  congressional  debates  and  reports;  in  the  jour- 
nals of  the  two  houses;  and  in  the  pages  of  American 
history.  They  have  been  commemorated  by  monuments 
erected  on  the  wayside.  They  have  been  engraven  on 
medals  of  gold.  Their  memory  will  survive  the  monu- 
ments of  marble  and  the  medals  of  gold;  for  these  are 


effaced  and  decay  by  the  friction  of  ages.  But  the 
thoughts  and  actions  of  my  late  colleague  have  become 
identified  with  the  immortality  of  the  human  mind,  and 
will  pass  down  from  generation  to  generation  as  a  portion 
of  our  national  inheritance,  incapable  of  annihilation  so 
long  as  genius  has  an  admirer,  or  liberty  a  friend. 

Mr.  President,  the  character  of  HENRY  CLAY  was  formed 
and  developed  by  the  influence  of  our  free  institutions.  His 
physical,  mental,  and  moral  faculties  were  the  gift  of  GOD. 
That  they  were  greatly  superior  to  the  faculties  allotted 
to  most  men  cannot  be  questioned.  They  were  not  culti- 
vated, improved,  and  directed  by  a  liberal  or  collegiate 
education.  His  respectable  parents  wrere  not  wealthy, 
and  had  not  the  means  of  maintaining  their  children  at 
college.  Moreover,  his  father  died  when  he  was  a  boy. 
At  an  early  period,  Mr.  CLAY  was  thrown  upon  his  own 
resources,  without  patrimony.  He  grew  up  in  a  clerk's 
office  in  Richmond,  Virginia.  He  there  studied  law.  He 
emigrated  from  his  native  state  and  settled  in  Lexington, 
Kentucky,  where  he  commenced  the  practice  or  his  pro- 
fession, before  he  was  of  full  age. 

The  road  to  wealth,  to  honor,  and  fame,  was  open  before 
him.  Under  our  constitution  and  laws  he  might  freely 
employ  his  great  faculties  unobstructed  by  legal  impedi- 
ments, and  unaided  by  exclusive  privileges.  Very  soon 
Mr.  CLAY  made  a  deep  and  favorable  impression  upon  the 
people  among  whom  he  began  his  career.  The  excellence 
of  his  natural  faculties  was  soon  displayed.  Necessity 
stimulated  him  in  their  cultivation.  His  assiduity,  skill, 
and  fidelity  in  professional  engagements  secured  public 
confidence.  He  was  elected  member  of  the  legislature  of 
Kentucky,  in  which  body  he  served  several  sessions  prior 

270 


tfegi-JjGUjj. 


to  1806.     In  that  year  he  was  elevated  to  a  seat  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States. 

At  the  bar  and  in  the  General  Assembly  of  Kentucky, 
Mr.  CLAY  first  manifested  those  high  qualities  as  a  public 
speaker  which  have  secured  to  him  so  much  popular  ap- 
plause and  admiration.  His  physical  and  mental  organ- 
ization eminently  qualified  him  to  become  a  great  and 
impressive  orator.  His  person  was  tall,  slender  and  com- 
manding. His  temperament  ardent,  fearless,  and  full  of 
hope.  His  countenance  clear,  expressive  and  variable — 
indicating  the  emotion  which  predominated  at  the  moment 
with  exact  similitude.  His  voice,  cultivated  and  modu- 
lated in  harmony  with  the  sentiment  he  desired  to  express, 
fell  upon  the  ear  like  the  melody  of  enrapturing  music. 
His  eye  beaming  with  intelligence  and  flashing  with 
coruscations  of  genius.  His  gestures  and  attitudes  grace- 
ful and  natural.  These  personal  advantages  won  the 
prepossessions  of  an  audience,  even  before  his  intellectual 
powers  began  to  move  his  hearers;  and  when  his  strong 
common  sense,  his  profound  reasoning,  his  clear  concep- 
tions of  his  subject  in  all  its  bearings,  and  his  striking  and 
beautiful  illustrations,  united  with  such  personal  qualities, 
were  brought  to  the  discussion  of  any  question,  his  audience 
was  enraptured,  convinced  and  led  by  the  orator  as  if  en- 
chanted by  the  lyre  of  Orpheus. 

No  man  was  ever  blessed  by  his  Creator  with  faculties 
of  a  higher  order  of  excellence  than  those  given  to  Mr. 
CLAY.  In  the  quickness  of  his  perceptions,  and  the  ra- 
pidity with  which  his  conclusions  were  formed,  he  had  few 
equals  and  no  superior.  He  was  eminently  endowed  with 
a  nice  discriminating  taste  for  order,  symmetry  and  beauty. 
He  detected  in  a  moment  every  thing  out  of  place  or  defi- 

271 


Obsequies  of 


cient  in  his  room,  upon  his  farm,  in  his  own  or  the  dress  of 
others.  He  was  a  skillful  judge  of  the  form  and  qualities 
of  his  domestic  animals,  which  he  delighted  to  raise  on  his 
farm.  I  could  give  you  instances  of  the  quickness  and 
minuteness  of  his  keen  faculty  of  observation  which  never 
overlooked  any  thing.  A  want  of  neatnefs  and  order 
was  offensive  to  him.  He  was  particular  and  neat  in  his 
handwriting,  and  his  apparel.  A  slovenly  blot  or  negli- 
gence of  any  sort  met  his  condemnation;  while  he  was  so 
organized  that  he  attended  to,  and  arranged  little  things 
to  please  and  gratify  his  natural  love  for  neatness,  order 
and  beauty,  his  great  intellectual  faculties  grasped  all  the 
subjects  of  jurisprudence  and  politics  with  a  facility 
amounting  almost  to  intuition.  As  a  lawyer,  he  stood  at 
the  head  of  his  profession.  As  a  statesman,  his  stand  at 
the  head  of  the  Republican  Whig  party  for  nearly  half  a 
century,  establishes  his  title  to  pre-eminence  among  his 
illustrious  associates. 

Mr.  CLAY  was  deeply  versed  in  all  the  springs  of  human 
action.  He  had  read  and  studied  biography  and  history. 
Shortly  after  I  left  college,  I  had  occasion  to  call  on  him 
in  Frankfort,  where  he  was  attending  court,  and  well  I 
remember  to  have  found  him  with  Plutarch's  Lives  in  his 
hands.  No  one  better  than  he  knew  how  to  avail  himself 
of  human  motives,  and  all  the  circumstances  which  sur- 
rounded a  subject,  or  could  present  them  with  more  force 
and  skill  to  accomplish  the  object  of  an  argument. 

Mr.  CLAY,  throughout  his  public  career,  was  influenced 
by  the  loftiest  patriotism.  Confident  in  the  truth  of  his 
convictions  and  the  purity  of  his  purposes,  he  was  ardent, 
sometimes  impetuous,  in  the  pursuit  of  objects  which  he 
believed  essential  to  the  general  welfare.  Those  who 

272 


ite.irtj  riistg. 


stood  in  his  way  were  thrown  aside  without  fear  or  cere- 
mony. He  never  affected  a  courtier's  deference  to  men  or 
opinions  which  he  thought  hostile  to  the  best  interests  of 
his  country;  and  hence  he  may  have  wounded  the  vanity 
of  those  who  thought  themselves  of  consequence.  It  is 
certain,  whatever  the  cause,  that  at  one  period  of  his  life 
Mr.  CLAY  might  have  been  referred  to  as  proof  that  there 
is  more  truth  than  fiction  in  those  profound  lines  of  the 
poet — 

"  He  who  ascends  to  mountain-tops  shall  find 
The  loftiest  peaks  most  wrapt  in  clouds  and  snow; 
He  who  surpasses  or  subdues  mankind, 
Must  look  down  on  the  hate  of  those  below. 
Though  high  above  the  sun  of  glory  glow, 
And  far  beneath  the  earth  and  ocean  spread; 
Round  him  are  icy  rocks,  and  loudly  blow 
Contending  tempests  on  his  naked  head, 

And  thus  reward  the  toils  which  to  those  summits  led." 

Calumny  and  detraction  emptied  their  vials  upon  him. 
But  how  glorious  the  change!  He  outlived  malice -and 
envy.  He  lived  long  enough  to  prove  to  the  world  that 
his  ambition  was  no  more  than  a  holy  aspiration  to  make 
his  country  the  greatest,  most  powerful,  and  best  governed 
on  the  earth.  If  he  desired  its  highest  office,  it  was  be- 
cause the  greater  power  and  influence  resulting  from  such 
elevation  would  enable  him  to  do  more  than  he  otherwise 
could  for  the  progress  and  advancement — first  of  his  own 
countrymen,  then  of  his  whole  race.  His  sympathies  em- 
braced all.  The  African  slave,  the  Creole  of  Spanish 
America,  the  children  of  renovated  classic  Greece — all 
i'uiuilies  of  men,  without  respect  to  color  or  cliine,  found 
in  his  expanded  bosom  and  comprehensive  intellect  a  friend 
of  their  elevation  and  amelioration.  Such  ambition  as 


18 


273 


o 


that,  is  GOD'S  implantation  in  the  human  heart  for  raising 
the  down-trodden  nations  of  the  earth,  and  fitting  them  for 
regenerated  existence  in  politics,  in  morals  and  religion. 

Bold  and  determined  as  Mr.  CLAY  was  in  all  his  actions 
he  was,  nevertheless,  conciliating.  He  did  not  obstinately 
adhere  to  things  impracticable.  If  he  could  not  accom- 
plish the  best,  he  contented  himself  with  the  nighest 
approach  to  it.  He  has  been  the  great  compromiser  of 
those  political  agitations  and  opposing  opinions  which 
have,  in  the  belief  of  thousands,  at  different  times,  endan- 
gered the  perpetuity  of  our  Federal  Government  and 
Union. 

Mr.  CLAY  was  no  less  remarkable  for  his  admirable 
social  qualities  than  for  his  intellectual  abilities.  As  a 
companion,  he  was  the  delight  of  his  friends;  and  no  man 
ever  had  better  or  truer.  They  have  loved  him  from  the 
beginning,  and  loved  him  to  the  last.  His  hospitable 
mansion  at  Ashland  was  always  open  to  their  reception. 
No  guest  ever  thence  departed  without  feeling  happier  for 
his  visit.  But,  alas !  that  hospitable  mansion  has  already 
been  converted  into  a  house  of  mourning;  already  has 
intelligence  of  his  death  passed  with  electric  velocity  to 
that  aged,  and  now  widowed  lady,  who,  for  more  than  fifty 
years,  bore  to  him  all  the  endearing  relations  of  wife,  and 
whose  feeble  condition  prevented  her  from  joining  him  in 
this  city,  and  soothing  the  anguish  of  life's  last  scene  by 
those  endearing-  attentions  which  no  one  can  give  so  well 
as  woman  and  a  wife.  May  GOD  infuse  into  her  heart 
and  mind  the  Christian  spirit  of  submission  under  her 
bereavement.  It  cannot  be  long  before  she  may  expect  a 
reunion  in  Heaven.  A  nation  condoles  with  her  and  her 
children  on  account  of  their  irreparable  loss. 

274 


Mr.  CLAY,  from  the  nature  of  his  disease,  declined  very 
gradually.  He  bore  his  protracted  sufferings  with  great 
equanimity  and  patience.  On  one  occasion,  he  said  to  me, 
that  when  death  was  inevitable,  and  must  soon  come,  and 
when  the  sufferer  was  ready  to  die,  he  did  not  perceive 
the  wisdom  of  praying  to  be  "  delivered  from  sudden 
death."  He  thought,  under  such  circumstances,  the  sooner 
suffering  was  relieved  by  death  the  better.  He  desired 
the  termination  of  his  own  sufferings,  while  he  acknowl- 
edged the  duty  of  patiently  waiting  and  abiding  the 
pleasure  of  GOD.  Mr.  CLAY  frequently  spoke  to  me  of 
his  hope  of  eternal  life,  founded  upon  the  merits  of  JESUS 
CHRIST  as  a  Savior;  who,  as  he  remarked,  came  into  the 
world  to  bring  "  life  and  immortality  to  light."  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Episcopalian  Church.  In  one  of  our 
conversations  he  told  me,  that  as  his  hour  of  dissolution 
approached,  he  found  that  his  affections  were  concentrat- 
ing more  and  more  upon  his  domestic  circle — his  wife  and 
children.  In  my  daily  visits  he  was  in  the  habit  of  asking 
me  to  detail  to  him  the  transactions  of  the  Senate.  This 
I  did,  and  he  manifested  much  interest  in  passing  occur- 
rences. His  inquiries  were  less  frequent  as  his  end  ap- 
proached. For  the  week  preceding  his  death  he  seemed 
to  be  altogether  abstracted  from  the  concerns  of  the  world. 
When  he  became  so  low  that  he  could  not  converse  with- 
out being  fatigued,  he  frequently  requested  those  around 
him  to  converse.  He  would  then  quietly  listen.  He 
retained  his  mental  faculties  in  great  perfection.  His 
memory  remained  perfect.  He  frequently  mentioned 
events  and  conversations  of  recent  occurrence,  chowii  g 
that  he  had  a  perfect  recollection  of  what  was  said  and 
done.  He  said  to  me  that  he  was  grateful  to  GOD  for 

27.5 


continuing  to  him  the  blessing  of  reason,  which  enabled 
him  to  contemplate  and  reflect  on  his  situation.  He  man- 
ifested during  his  confinement  the  same  characteristics 
which  marked  his  conduct  through  the  vigor  of  his  life. 
He  was  exceedingly  averse  to  give  his  friends  "  trouble" 
as  he  called  it.  Some  time  before  he  knew  it  we  com- 
menced waiting  through  the  night  in  an  adjoining  room. 
He  said  to  me,  after  passing  a  painful  day,  "  Perhaps  some 
one  had  better  remain  all  night  in  the  parlor."  From  this 
time  he  knew  some  friend  was  constantly  at  hand  ready 
to  attend  to  him. 

Mr.  President,  the  majestic  form  of  Mr.  CLAY  will  no 
more  grace  these  halls.  No  more  shall  we  hear  that 
voice  which  has  so  often  thrilled  and  charmed  the  assem- 
bled representatives  of  the  American  people.  No  more 
shall  we  see  that  waving  hand  and  eye  of  light,  as  when 
he  was  engaged  unfolding  his  policy  in  regard  to  the  varied 
interests  of  our  growing  and  mighty  republican  empire. 
His  voice  is  silent,  on  earth,  forever.  The  darkness  of 
death  has  obscured  the  lustre  of  his  eye.  But  the  memory 
of  his  services — not  only  to  his  beloved  Kentucky,  not 
only  to  the  United  States,  but  for  the  cause  of  human 
freedom  and  progress  throughout  the  world — will  live 
through  future  ages,  as  a  bright  example,  stimulating  and 
encouraging,  his  own  countrymen  and  the  people  of  all 
nations  in  their  patriotic  devotions  to  country  and  Im- 
munity. 

With  Christians,  there  is  yet  a  nobler  and  a  higher 
thought  in  regard  to  Mr.  CLAY.  They  will  think  of  him 
in  connection  with  eternity.  They  will  contemplate  his 
immortal  spirit  occupying  its  true  relative  magnitude 
among  the  moral  stars  of  glory  in  the  presence  of  GOD. 

276 


They  will  think  of  him  as  having  fulfilled  the  duties 
allotted  to  him  on  earth,  having  been  regenerated  by 
Divine  grace,  and  having  passed  through  the  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death,  and  reached  an  everlasting  and  happy 
home  in  that  "house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the 
heavens." 

On  Sunday  morning  last,  I  was  watching  alone  at  Mr. 
CLAY'S  bedside.  For  the  last  hour  he  had  been  unusually 
quiet,  and  I  thought  he  was  sleeping.  In  that,  however, 
he  told  me  I  was  mistaken.  Opening  his  eyes  and  looking 
at  me,  he  said,  "  Mr.  UNDERWOOD,  there  may  be  some 
question  where  my  remains  shall  be  buried.  Some  per- 
sons may  designate  Frankfort.  I  wish  to  repose  at  the 
cemetery  in  Lexington,  where  many  of  my  friends  and 
connections  are  buried."  My  reply  was,  "  I  will  endeavor 
to  have  your  wish  executed." 

I  now  ask  the  Senate  to  have  his  corpse  transmitted  to 
Lexington,  Kentucky,  for  sepulture.  Let  him  sleep  with 
the  dead  of  that  city,  in  and  near  which  his  home  has 
been  for  more  than  half  a  century.  For  the  people  of 
Lexington,  the  living  and  the  dead,  he  manifested,  by  the 
statement  made  to  me,  a  pure  and  holy  sympathy,  and  a 
desire  to  cleave  unto  them,  as  strong  as  that  which  bound 
RUTH  to  NAOMI.  It  was  his  anxious  wish  to  return  to 
them  before  he  died,  and  to  realize  what  the  daughter  of 
MOAB  so  strongly  felt  and  beautifully  expressed  :  "  Thy 
people  shall  be  my  people,  and  thy  GOD  my  GOD.  Where 
thou  diest  will  I  die,  and  there  will  I  be  buried." 

It  is  fit  that  the  tomb  of  HENRY  CLAY  should  be  in  the., 
city  of  Lexington.     In  our  Revolution,  liberty's  first  liba- 
tion-blood was   poured  out  in    a   town  of  that  name  in 
Massachusetts.     On  hearing  it,  the  pioneers  of  Kentucky 

277 


v)')se(]i|ies  of 


consecrated  the  name,  and  applied  it  to  the  place  where 
Mr.  CLAY  desired  to  be  buried.  The  associations  con- 
nected with  the  name,  harmonize  with  his  character;  and 
the  monument  erected  to  his  memory  at  the  spot  selected 
by  him  will  be  visited  by  the  votaries  of  genius  and  liberty 
with  that  reverence  which  is  inspired  at  the  tomb  of 
WASHINGTON.  Upon  that  monument  let  his  epitaph  be 
engraved. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  availed  myself  of  Dr.  JOHNSON'S 
paraphrase  of  the  epitaph  on  THOMAS  HANMER,  with  a  few 
alterations  and  additions,  to  express,  in  borrowed  verse, 
my  admiration  for  the  life  and  character  of  Mr.  CLAY; 
and  with  this  heart-tribute  to  the  memory  of  my  illustrious 
colleague,  I  conclude  my  remarks: 

Born  -when  Freedom  her  stripes  and  stars  unfurl'd, 
When  Revolution  shook  the  startled  world- 
Heroes  and  sages  taught  his  brilliant  mind 
To  know  and  love  the  rights  of  all  mankind. 
"  In  life's  first  bloom  his  public  toils  began, 
At  once  commenced  the  Senator  and  man; 
In  business  dext'rous,  weighty  in  debate, 
Near  fifty  years  he  labor'd  for  the  State, 
In  every  speech  persuasive  wisdom  flow'd, 
In  every  act  refulgent  virtue  glow'd  ; 
Suspended  faction  ceased  from  rage  and  strife, 
To  hear  his  eloquence  and  praise  his  life. 
Resistless  merit  fixed  the  Members'  choice, 
Who  hail'd  him  Speaker  with  united  voice." 
His  talents  ripening  with  advancing  years— 
His  wisdom  growing  with  his  public  cares — 
A  chosen  envoy,  war's  dark  horrors  cease, 
And  tidea  of  carnage  turn  to  streams  of  peace. 
Conflicting  principles,  internal  strife, 
Tariff  and  slavery,  disunion  rife, 
All  are  compromised  by  his  great  hand, 
And  beams  of  joy  illuminate  the  land. 
Patriot,  Christian,  Husband,  Father,  Friend, 
Thy  work  of  life  achieved  a  glorious  end ! 
278 


it  e»nj  Glair 

'•    :   '•     -'    ^--±-===- 

I  offer  the  following  resolutions: 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  six  be  appointed  by  the 
President  of  the  Senate,  to  take  order  for  superintending 
the  funeral  of  HENRY  CLAY,  late  a  member  of  this  body, 
which  will  take  place  to-morrow  at  twelve  o'clock,  M.,  and 
that  the  Senate  will  attend  the  same. 

Resolved,  That  the  members  of  the  Senate,  from  a  sin- 
cere desire  of  showing  every  mark  of  respect  to  the 
memory  of  the  deceased,  will  go  into  mourning  for  one 
month,  by  the  usual  mode  of  wearing  crape  on  the  left 
arm. 

Resolved,  As  a  further  mark  of  respect  entertained 
by  the  Senate  for  the  memory  of  HENRY  CLAY,  and  his 
long  and  distinguished  services  to  his  country,  that  his 
remains,  in  pursuance  of  the  known  wishes  of  his  family, 
be  removed  to  the  place  of  sepulture  selected  by  himself 
at  Lexington,  in  Kentucky,  in  charge  of  the  Sergeant-at- 
Arms,  and  attended  by  a  committee  of  six  senators,  to  be 
appointed  by  the  President  of  the  Senate,  who  shall  have 
full  power  to  carry  this  resolution  into  effect. 


Mr.  CASS. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  Again  has  an  impressive  warning  come 
to  teach  us,  that  in  the  midst  of  life  we  are  in  death.  The 
ordinary  labors  of  this  hall  are  suspended,  and  its  con- 
tentions hushed,  before  the  power  of  him.  who  says  to  the 
storm  of  human  passion,  as  he  said  of  old  to  the  waves  of 
Galilee,  PEACE.  BE  STILL.  The  lessons  of  His  providence,  -, 
severe  as  they  may  be,  often  become  merciful  dispensa- 
tions, like  that  which  is  now  spreading  sorrow  through 
the  land,  and  which  is  reminding  us  that  we  have  higher 

279 


Obsequies  of 


duties  to  fulfill,  and  graver  responsibilities  to  encounter, 
than  those  that  meet  us  here,  when  we  lay  our  hands  upon 
His  holy  word,  and  invoke  His  holy  name,  promising  to  be 
faithful  to  that  Constitution,  which  He  gave  us  in  His 
mercy,  and  will  withdraw  only  in  the  hour  of  our  blind- 
ness and  disobedience,  and  of  His  own  wrath. 

Another  great  man  has  fallen  in  our  land,  ripe  indeed 
in  years  and  in  honors,  but  never  dearer  to  the  American 
people  than  when  called  from  the  theatre  of  his  services 
and  renown  to  that  final  bar  where  the  lofty  and  the  lowly 
must  all  meet  at  last. 

I  do  not  rise,  upon  this  mournful  occasion,  to  indulge  in 
the  language  of  panegyric.  My  regard  for  the  memory 
of  the  dead,  and  for  the  obligations  of  the  living,  would 
equally  rebuke  such  a  course.  The  severity  of  truth  is, 
at  once,  our  proper  duty  and  our  best  consolation.  Born 
during  the  revolutionary  struggle,  our  deceased  associate 
was  one  of  the  few  remaining  public  men  who  connect  the 
present  generation  with  the  actors  in  the  trying  scenes  of 
that  eventful  period,  and  whose  names  and  deeds  will  soon 
be  known  only  in  the  history  of  their  country.  He  was 
another  illustration,  and  a  noble  one,  too,  of  the  "glorious 
equality  of  our  institutions,  which  freely  offer  all  their 
rewards  to  all  who  justly  seek  them;  for  he  was  the  archi- 
tect of  his  own  fortune,  having  made  his  way  in  life  by 
self- exertion;  and  he  was  an  early  adventurer  in  the  great 
forest  of  the  West,  then  a  world  of  primitive  vegetation, 
but  now  the  abode  of  intelligence  and  religion,  of  pros- 
perity and  civilization.  But  he  possessed  that  intellectual 
superiority  which  overcomes  surrounding  obstacles,  and 
which  local  seclusion  cannot  long  withhold  from  general 
knowledge  and  appreciation. 


it-enrti  CUij. 


It  is  almost  half  a  century  since  he  passed  through 
Chillicothe,  then  the  seat  of  government  of  Ohio,  where  I 
was  a  member  of  the  legislature,  on  his  way  to  take  his 
place  in  this  very  body,  which  is  now  listening  to  this 
reminiscence,  and  to  a  feeble  tribute  of  regard  from  one 
who  then  saw  him  for  the  first  time,  but  who  can  never 
forget  the  impression  he  produced  by  the  charms  of  his 
conversation,  the  frankness  of  his  manner,  and  the  high 
qualities  Avith  which  he  was  endowed.  Since  then  he  has 
belonged  to  his  country,  and  has  taken  a  part,  and  a  prom- 
inent part,  both  in  peace  and  war,  in  all  the  great  ques- 
tions affecting  her  interest  and  her  honor;  and  though  it 
has  been  my  fortune  often  to  differ  from  him,  yet  I  believe 
he  was  as  pure  a  patriot  as  ever  participated  in  the  coun- 
cils of  a  nation,  anxious  for  the  public  good,  and  seeking 
to  promote  it,  during  all  the  vicissitudes  of  a  long  and 
eventful  life.  That  he  exercised  a  powerful  influence, 
within  the  sphere  of  his  action,  through  the  whole  country, 
indeed,  we  all  feel  and  know;  and  we  know,  too,  the  emi- 
nent endowments  to  which  he  owed  this  high  distinction. 
Frank  and  fearless  in  the  expression  of  his  opinion,  and 
in  the  performance  of  his  duties,  with  rare  powers  of 
eloquence,  which  never  failed  to  rivet  the  attention  of  his 
auditory,  and  which  always  commanded  admiration,  even 
when  they  did  not  carry  conviction — prompt  in  decision, 
and  firm  in  action,  and  with  a  vigorous  intellect,  trained 
in  the  contests  of  a  stirring  life,  and  strengthened  by  en- 
larged experience  and  observation,  joined  withal  to  an 
ardent  love  of  country,  and  to  great  purity  of  purpose,— 
these  were  the  elements  of  his  power  and  success;  and  we 
dwell  upon  them  with  mournful  gratification  now,  when 
we  shall  soon  follow  him  to  the  cold  and  silent  tomb, 

281 


Obsequies  of 


where  we  shall  commit  "  earth  to  earth,  ashes  to^ashes, 
dust  to  dust,"  but  with  the  blessed  conviction  of  the  truth 
of  that  Divine  revelation  which  teaches  us  that  there  is 
life  and  hope  beyond  the  narrow  house,  where  we  shall 
leave  him  alone  to  the  mercy  of  his  GOD  and  ours. 

He  has  passed  beyond  the  reach  of  human  praise  or 
censure;  but  the  judgment  of  his  contemporaries  has  pre- 
ceded and  pronounced  the  judgment  of  history,  and  his 
name  and  fame  will  shed  lustre  upon  his  country,  and  will 
be  proudly  cherished  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen  for 
long  ages  to  come.  Yes,  they  will  be  cherished  and  freshly 
remembered,  when  these  marble  columns,  that  surround 
us,  so  often  the  witnesses  of  his  triumph — but  in  a  few 
brief  hours,  when  his  mortal  frame,  despoiled  of  the  im- 
mortal spirit,  shall  rest  under  this  dome  for  the  last  time, 
to  become  the  witnesses  of  his  defeat  in  that  final  contest, 
where  the  mightiest  fall  before  the  great  destroyer — when 
these  marble  columns  shall  themselves  have  fallen,  like  all 
the  works  of  man,  leaving  their  broken  fragments  to  tell 
the  story  of  former  magnificence,  amid  the  very  ruins 
which  announce  decay  and  desolation. 

I  was  often  with  him  during  his  last  illness,  when  the 
world  and  the  things  of  the  world  were  fast  fading  away, 
before  him.  He  knew  that  the  silver  cord  was  almost 
loosened,  and  that  the  golden  bowl  was  breaking  at  the 
fountain;  but  he  was  resigned  to  the  will  of  Providence, 
feeling  that  He  who  gave  has  the  right  to  take  away,  in 
His  own  good  time  and  manner.  After  his  duty  to  his 
Creator,  and  his  anxiety  for  his  family,  his  first  care  was 
for  his  country,  and  his  first  wish  for  the  preservation  and 
perpetuation  of  the  Constitution  and  the  Union — dear  to 
him  in  the  hour  of  death,  as  they  had  ever  been  in  the 

232 


l_eoJrjj^UiJ^ 

vigor  of  life.  Of  that  Constitution  and  Union,  whose 
defence  in  the  last  and  greatest  crisis  of  their  peril,  had 
called  forth  all  his  energies,  and  stimulated  those  memora- 
ble and  powerful  exertions,  which  he  who  witnessed  can 
never  forget,  and  which  no  doubt  hastened  the  final  catas- 
trophe a  nation  now  deplores,  with  a  sincerity  and  una- 
nimity, not  less  honorable  to  themselves  than  to  the 
memory  of  the  object  of  their  affections.  And  when  we 
shall  enter  that  narrow  valley,  through  which  he  has 
passed  before  us,  and  which  leads  to  the  judgment-seat  of 
GOD,  may  we  be  able  to  say,  through  faith  in  his  Son  our 
Savior,  and  in  the  beautiful  language  of  the  hymn  of 
the  dying  Christian — dying,  but  ever  living  and  trium- 
pha.it — 

"  The  world  recedes ;  it  disappears  ! 
Heav'n  opens  on  my  eyes !  my  ears 

With  sounds  seraphic  ring  ; 
Lend,  lend  your  wings  !  I  mount — I  fly  ! 
Oh,  Grave !  where  is  thy  victory  ? 

Oh,  Death  !  where  is  thy  sting  ?  " 

"  Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and  let  my  last 
hour  be  like  his." 


Mr.  HUNTER  : 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  We  have  heard,  with  deep  sensibility, 
what  has  just  fallen  from  the  Senators  who  have  preceded 
me.  We  have  heard,  sir,  the  voice  of  Kentucky — and, 
upon  this  occasion,  she  had  a  right  to  speak — in  mingled 
accents  of  pride  and  sorrow;  for  it  has  rarely  fallen  to  the 
lot  of  any  state  to  lament  the  loss  of  such  a  son.  But 
Virginia,  too,  is  entitled  to  her  place  in  this  procession; 
for  she  cannot  be  supposed  to  be  unmindful  of  ihe  tie 

2S3 


Obsequies  of 


which  bound  her  to  the  dead.  When  jthe  earth  opens  to 
receive  the  mortal  part  which  she  gave  to  man,  it  is  then 
that  affection  is  eager  to  bury  in  its  bosom  every  recol- 
lection but  those  of  love  and  kindness.  And,  sir,  when 
the  last  sensible  tie  is  about  to  be  severed,  it  is  then  that 
we  look  with  anxious  interest  to  the  deeds  of  the  life,  and 
to  the  emanations  of  the  heart  and  the  mind,  for  those 
more  enduring  monuments  which  are  the  creations  of  an 
immortal  nature. 

In  this  instance,  we  can  be  at  no  loss  for  these.  This 
land,  sir,  is  full  of  the  monuments  of  his  genius.  His 
memory  is  as  imperishable  as  American  history  itself,  for 
he  was  one  of  those  who  made  it.  Sir,  he  belonged  to 
that  marked  class  who  are  the  men  of  their  century;  for  it 
was  his  rare  good  fortune  not  only  to  have  been  endowed 
with  the  capacity  to  do  great  things,  but  to  have  enjoyed 
the  opportunities  of  achieving  them.  I  know,  sir,  it  has 
been  said  and  deplored,  that  he  wanted  some  of  the  advan- 
tages of  an  early  education;  but  it,  perhaps,  has  not  been 
remembered  that,  in  many  respects,  he  enjoyed  such  oppor- 
tunities for  mental  training  as  can  rarely  fall  to  the  lot  of 
man.  He  had  not  a  chance  to  learn  as  much  from  books, 
but  he  had  such  opportunities  of  learning  from  men  as  few 
have  ever  enjoyed.  Sir,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  he 
was  reared  at  a  time  when  there  was  a  state  of  society,  in 
the  commonwealth  which  gave  him  birth,  such  as  has  never 
been  seen  there  before  nor  since.  It  was  his  early  privi- 
lege to  see  how  justice  was  administered  by  a  PENDLETON 
and  a  WYTHE,  with  the  last  of  whom  he  was  in  the  daily 
habit  of  familiar  intercourse.  He  had  constant  opportu- 
nities to  observe  how  forensic  questions  were  managed  by 
a  MARSHALL  and  a  WICKHAM.  He  was  old  enough,  too, 

2:4 


to  have  heard  and  to  have  appreciated  the  eloquence  of  a 
PATRICK  HENRY,  and  of  GEORGE  KEITH  TAYLOR.  In 
short,  sir,  he  lived  in  a  society  in  which  the  examples  of 
a  JEFFERSON,  and  a  MADISON,  and  MONROE  were  living 
influences,  and  on  which  the  setting  sun  of  a  WASHINGTON 
cast  the  mild  effulgence  of  its  departing  rays. 

He  was  trained,  too,  as  has  been  well  said  by  the  Sena- 
tor from  Michigan,  [Mr.  CASS,]  at  a  period  when  the 
recent  revolutionary  struggle  had  given  a  more  elevated 
tone  to  patriotism,  and  imparted  a  higher  cast  to  public 
feeling  and  to  public  character.  Such  lessons  were  worth, 
perhaps,  more  to  him  than  the  whole  encyclopedia  of  scho- 
lastic learning.  Not  only  were  the  'circumstances  of  his 
early  training  favorable  to  the  development  of  his  genius, 
but  the  theatre  upon  which  he  was  thrown,  was  eminently 
propitious  for  its  exercise.  The  circumstances  of  the 
early  settlement  of  Kentucky,  the  generous,  daring  and 
reckless  character  of  the  people — all  fitted  it  to  be  the 
theatre  for  the  display  of  those  commanding  qualities  of 
heart  and  mind,  which  he  so  eminently  possessed.  There 
can  be  little  doubt  but  that  those  people  and  their  chosen 
leader  exercised  a  mutual  influence  upon  each  other;  and 
no  one  can  be  surprised  that  with  his  brave  spirit  and 
commanding  eloquence,  and  fascinating  address,  he  should 
have  led  not  only  there  but  elsewhere. 

I  did  not  know  him,  Mr.  President,  as  you  did,  in  the 
freshness  of  his  prime,  or  in  the  full  maturity  of  his  man- 
hood. I  did  not  hear  him,  sir,  as  you  have  heard  him, 
when  his  voice  roused  the  spirit  of  his  countrymen  for 
war  —when  he  cheered  the  drooping,  when  he  rallied  the 
doubting  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  a  long  and  doubt- 
ful contest.  I  have  never  seen  him,  sir,  when,  from  the 


of 


height  of  the  chair,  he  ruled  the  House  of  Representatives 
by  the  energy  of  his  will,  or  when,  upon  the  level  of  the 
floor,  he  exercised  a  control  almost  as  absolute  by  the 
mastery  of  his  intellect.  When  I  first  knew  him  his  sun 
had  a  little  passed  its  zenith.  The  effacing  hand  of  time 
had  just  begun  to  touch  the  lineaments  of  his  manhood. 
But  yet,  sir,  I  saw  enough  of  him  to  be  able  to  realize 
what  he  might  have  been  in  the  prime  of  his  strength,  and 
in  the  full  vigor  of  his  maturity.  I  saw  him,  sir,  as  you 
did,  when  he  led  the  "  opposition"  during  the  administra- 
tion of  Mr.  VAN  BUEEN.  I  had  daily  opportunities  of 
witnessing  the  exhibition  of  his  powers  during  the  extra 
session  under  Mr.  TYLER'S  administration.  And  I  saw, 
as  we  all  saw,  in  a  recent  contest,  the  exhibition  of  power 
on  his  part,  which  was  most  marvellous  in  one  of  his  years. 
Mr.  President,  he  may  not  have  had  as  much  of  analytic 
skill  as  some  others,  in  dissecting  a  subject.  It  may  be, 
perhaps,  that  he  did  not  seek  to  look  quite  so  far  ahead  as 
some  who  have  been  most  distinguished  for  political  fore- 
cast. But  it  may  be  truly  said  of  Mr.  CLAY,  that  he  was 
no  exaggerator.  He  looked  at  events  through  neither  end 
of  the  telescope,  but  surveyed  them  with  the  natural  and 
the  naked  eye.  He  had  the  capacity  of  seeing  things  as 
the  people  saw  them,  and  of  feeling  things  as  the  people 
felt  them.  He  had,  sir,  beyond  any  other  man,  whom  I 
have  ever  seen,  the  true  mesmeric  touch  of  the  orator — the 
rare  art  of  transferring  his  impulses  to  others.  Thoughts, 
feelings,  emotions,  came  from  the  ready  mould  of  his 
genius,  radiant  and  glowing,  and  communicated  their  own 
warmth  to  every  heart  which  received  them.  His,  too, 
was  the  power  of  wielding  the  higher  and  intenser  forms 
of  passion  with  a  majesty  and  an  ease,  which  none  but  the 

236 


great  masters  of  the  human  heart  can  ever  employ.  It 
was  his  rare  good  fortune  to  have  been  one  of  those  who 
form,  as  it  were,  a  sensible  link,  a  living  tradition  which 
connects  one  age  with  another,  and  through  which  one 
generation  speaks  its  thoughts  and  feelings,  and  appeals 
to  another.  And,  unfortunate  is  it  for  a  country,  when  it 
ceases  to  possess  such  men,  for  it  is  to  them  that  we  chiefly 
owe  the  capacity  to  maintain  the  unity  of  the  great  Epos 
of  human  history,  and  preserve  the  consistency  of  political 
action. 

Sir,  it  may  be  said  that  the  grave  is  still  new-made 
which  covers  the  mortal  remains  of  one  of  those  great 
men  who  have  been  taken  from  our  midst,  and  the  earth  is 
soon  to  open  to  receive  another.  I  know  not  whether  it 
can  be  said  to  be  a  matter  of  lamentation,  so  far  as  the 
dead  are  concerned,  that  the  thread  of  this  life  has  been 
clipped  when  once  it  had  been  fully  spun.  They  escape 
the  infirmities  of  age,  and  they  leave  an  imperishable  name 
behind  them.  The  loss,  sir,  is  not  theirs,  but  ours;  and  a 
loss  the  more  to  be  lamented  that  we  see  none  to  fill  the 
places  thus  made  vacant  on  the  stage  of  public  affairs. 
But  it  may  be  well  for  us,  who  have  much  more  cause  to 
mourn  and  to  lament  such  deaths,  to  pause  amidst  the 
business  of  life  for  the  purpose  of  contemplating  the  spec- 
tacle before  us,  and  of  drawing  the  moral  from  the  passing 
event.  It  is  when  death  seizes  for  its  victims  those  who 
are,  by  "  a  head  and  shoulders,  taller  than  all  the  rest," 
that  we  feel  most  deeply  the  uncertainty  of  human  affairs, 
and  that  "  the  glories  of  our  mortal  state  are  shadows,  not 
substantial  things."  It  is,  sir,  in  such  instances  as  the 
present  that  we  can  best  study  by  the  light  of  example  the 
true  objects  of  life,  and  the  wisest  ends  of  human  pursuit. 

237 


lDbse<]nie$  of 


Mr.  HALE. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  I  hope  I  shall  not  be  considered  obtru- 
sive, if  on  this  occasion,  for  a  brief  moment,  I  mingle  my 
humble  voice  with  those  that,  with  an  ability  that  I  shall 
neither  attempt  nor  hope  to  equal,  have  sought  to  do  jus- 
tice to  the  worth  and  memory  of  the  deceased,  and  at  the 
same  time  appropriately  to  minister  to  the  sympathies  and 
sorrows  of  a  stricken  people.  Sir,  it  is  the  teaching  of 
inspiration  that  "  no  man  liveth  and  no  man  dieth  unto 
himself." 

There  is  a  lesson  taught  no  less  in  the  death  than  in  the 
life  of  every  man — eminently  so  in  the  case  of  one  who  has 
filled  a  large  space  and  occupied  a  distinguished  position 
in  the  thoughts  and  regard  of  his  fellow-men.  Particularly 
instructive  at  this  time  is  the  event  which  we  now  deplore, 
although  the  circumstances  attending  his  decease  are  such 
as  are  calculated  to  assuage  rather  than  aggravate  the 
grief  which  it  must  necessarily  cause.  His  time  had  fully 
come.  The  threescore  and  ten,  marking  the  ordinary 
period  of  human  life,  had  for  some  years  been  passed,  and, 
full  of  years  and  of  honors,  he  has  gone  to  his  rest.  And 
now,  when  the  nation  is  marshaling  itself  for  the  contest 
which  is  to  decide  "  who  shall  be  greatest,"  as  if  to  chasten 
our  ambition,  to  restrain  and  subdue  the  violence  of  pas- 
sion, to  moderate  our  desires  and  elevate  our  hopes,  we 
have  the  spectacle  of  one  who,  by  the  force  of  his  intellect 
and  the  energy  of  his  own  purpose,  had  achieved  a  repu- 
tation which  the  highest  official  honors  of  the  Republic 
might  have  illustrated,  but  could  not  have  enhanced,  laid 
low  in  death — as  if,  at  the  very  outset  of  this  political 
contest,  on  which  the  nation  is  now  entering,  to  teach  the 

288 


ambitious  and  aspiring  the  vanity  of  human  pursuit  and 
end  of  earthly  honor.  But,  sir,  I  do  not  intend  to  dwell 
on  that  moral  which  is  taught  by  the  silent  lips  and  closed 
eye  of  the  illustrious  dead,  with  a  force  such  as  no  man 
ever  spoke  with:  but  I  shall  leave  the  event  with  its  silent 
and  mute  eloquence,  to  impress  its  own  appropriate  teach- 
ings on  the  heart. 

In  the  long  and  eventful  life  of  Mr.  CLAY,  in  the  various 
positions  which  he  occupied,  in  the  many  posts  of  public 
duty  which  he  filled,  in  the  many  exhibitions  which  his 
history  affords  of  untiring  energy;  of  unsurpassed  elo- 
quence, and  of  devoted  patriotism,  it  would  be  strange 
indeed  if  different  minds,  as  they  dwell  upon  the  subject, 
were  all  to  select  the  same  incidents  of  his  life  as  pre-emi- 
nently calculated  to  challenge  admiration  and  respect. 

Sir,  my  admiration — aye,  my  affection  for  Mr.  CLAY — 
was  won  and  secured  many  years  since,  even  in  my  school- 
boy days — when  his  voice  of  counsel,  encouragement  and 
sympathy  was  heard  in  the  other  hall  of  this  capitol,  in 
behalf  of  the  struggling  colonies  of  the  southern  portion 
of  this  continent,  who,  in  the  pursuit  of  their  inalienable 
rights,  in  imitation  of  our  own  forefathers,  had  unfurled 
the  banner  of  liberty,  and,  regardless  of  consequences,  had 
gallantly  rushed  into  that  contest  where  "  life  is  lost  or 
freedom  won."  And  again,  sir,  when  Greece,  rich  in  the 
memories  of  the  past,  awoke  from  the  slumber  of  ages  of 
oppression  and  centuries  of  shame,  and  resolved 

"  To  call  her  virtues  back,  and  conquer  time  and  fate" — 

there,  over  the  plains  of  that  classic  land,  above  the  din  of 
battle  and  the  clash  of  arms,  mingling  with  the  shouts  of 
the  victors  and  the  groans  of  the  vanquished,  were  heard 

19  289 


0bse(]qies  of 

•••^^^^•^•M^^HMMMI^^H^ 

the  thrilling  and  stirring  notes  of  that  same  eloquence, 
excited  by  a  sympathy  which  knew  no  bounds,  wide  as  the 
world,  pleading  the  cause  of  Grecian  liberty  before  the 
American  Congress,  as  if  to  pay  back  to  Greece  the  debt 
which  every  patriot  and  orator  felt  was  her  due.  Sir,  in 
the  long  and  honorable  career  of  the  deceased,  there  are 
many  events  and  circumstances  upon  which  his  friends 
and  posterity  will  dwell  with  satisfaction  and  pride,  but 
none  which  will  preserve  his  memory  with  more  unfading 
lustre  to  future  ages,  than  the  course  he  pursued  in  the 
Spanish-American  and  Greek  revolutions. 


Mr.  CLEMENS. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  I  should  not  have  thought  it  necessary 
to  add  any  thing  to  what  has  already  been  said,  but  for  a 
request  preferred  by  some  of  the  friends  of  the  deceased. 
I  should  have  been  content  to  mourn  him  in  silence,  and 
left  it  to  other  tongues  to  pronounce  his  eulogy.  What  I 
have  now  to  say  shall  be  brief — very  brief. 

Mr.  President,  it  is  now  less  than  three  short  years  ago 
since  I  first  entered  this  body.  At  that  period  it  num- 
bered among  its  members  many  of  the  most  illustrious 
statesmen  this  Republic  has  ever  produced,  or  the  world 
has  ever  known.  Of  the  living,  it  is  not  my  purpose  to 
speak;  but,  in  that  brief  period,  death  has  been  busy  here; 
and  as  if  to  mark  the  feebleness  of  human  things,  his 
arrows  have  been  aimed  at  the  highest,  the  mightiest  of  us 
all.  First,  died  CALHOUN.  And  well,  sir,  do  I  remember 
the  deep  feeling  evinced  on  that  occasion  by  him  whose 
death  has  been  announced  here  to-day,  when  he  said:  ''I 
was  his  senior  in  years — in  nothing  else.  In  the  course  of 

290 


nature  I  ought  to  have  preceded  him.  It  has  been  decreed 
otherwise;  but  I  know  that  I  shall  linger  here  only  a  short 
time,  and  shall  soon  follow  him."  It  was  genius  mourning 
over  his  younger  brother,  and  too  surely  predicting  his  own 
approaching  end. 

He,  too,  is  now  gone  from  among  us,  and  left  none  like 
him  behind.  That  voice,  whose  every  tone  was  music,  is 
hushed  and  still.  That  clear,  bright  eye  is  dim  and  lustre- 
less, and  that  breast,  where  grew  and  flourished  every 
quality  which  could  adorn  and  dignify  our  nature,  is  cold 
as  the  clod  that  soon  must  cover  it.  A  few  hours  have 
wrought  a  mighty  change — a  change  for  which  a  lingering 
illness  had,  indeed,  in  some  degree,  prepared  us;  but  which, . 
nevertheless,  will  still  fall  upon  the  nation  with  crushing 
force.  Many  a  sorrowing  heart  is  now  asking,  as  I  did 
yesterday,  when  I  heard  the  first  sound  of  the  funeral 
bell— 

"And  is  he  gone  ? — the  pure  of  the  purest, 
The  hand  that  upheld  our  bright  banner  the  surest, 

Is  he  gone  from  our  struggles  away  ? 
But  yesterday  lending  a  people  new  life, 

Cold,  mute,  in  the  coffin  to-day." 

Mr.  President,  this  is  an  occasion  when  eulogy  must  fail 
to  perform  its  office.  The  long  life  which  is  now  ended  is 
a  history  of  glorious  deeds  too  mighty  for  the  tongue  of 
praise.  It  is  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen  that  his  best 
epitaph  must  be  written.  It  is  in  the  admiration  of  a 
world  that  his  renown  must  be  recorded.  In  that  deep 
love  of  country  which  distinguished  every  period  of  his 
life,  he  may  not  have  been  unrivaled.  In  loftiness  of 
intellect  he  was  not  without  his  peers.  The  skill  with 
which  he  touched  every  chord  of  the  human  heart  may 

291 


©bse^qies  of 


have  been  equaled.  The  iron  will,  the  unbending  firm- 
ness, the  fearless  courage,  which  marked  his  character, 
may  have  been  shared  by  others.  But  where  .shall  we  go 
to  find  all  these  qualities  united,  concentrated,  blended 
into  one  brilliant  whole,  and  shedding  a  lustre  upon  one 
single  head,  which  does  not  dazzle  the  beholder  only  be- 
cause it  attracts  his  love  and  demands  his  worship  ? 

I  scarcely  know,  sir,  how  far  it  may  be  allowable,  upon 
an  occasion  like  this,  to  refer  to  party  struggles  which 
have  left  wounds  not  yet  entirely  healed.  I  will  venture, 
however,  to  suggest,  that  it  should  be  a  source  of  consola- 
tion to  his  friends  that  he  lived  long  enough  to  see  the  full 
accomplishment  of  the  last  great  work  of  his  life,  and  to 
witness  the  total  disappearance  of  that  sectional  tempest 
which  threatened  to  whelm  the  Republic  in  ruins.  Both 
the  great  parties  of  the  country  have  agreed  to  stand 
upon  the  platform  which  he  erected,  and  both  of  them 
have  solemnly  pledged  themselves  to  maintain  unimpaired 
the  work  of  his  hands.  I  doubt  not  the  knowledge  of  this 
cheered  him  in  his  dying  moments,  and  helped  to  steal 
away  the  pangs  of  dissolution. 

Mr.  President,  if  I  knew  any  thing  more  that  I  could 
say,  I  would  gladly  utter  it.  To  me  he  was  something 
more  than  kind,  and  I  am  called  upon  to  mingle  a  private 
with  the  public  grief.  I  wish  that  I  could  do  something 
to  add  to  his  fame.  But  he  built  for  himself  a  monument 
of  immortality,  and  left  to  his  friends  no  task  but  that  of 
soothing  their  own  sorrow  for  his  loss.  We  pay  to  him 
the  tribute  of  our  tears.  More  we  have  no  power  to 
bestow.  Patriotism,  honor,  genius,  courage,  have  all  come 
to  strew  their  garlands  about  his  tomb;  and  well  they 
may,  for  he  was  the  peer  of  them  all. 

292 


Ciqjj. 


Mr.  COOPER. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  It  is  not  always  by  words  that  the 
living  pay  to  the  dead  the  sincerest  and  most  eloquent 
tribute.  The  tears  of  a  nation,  flowing  spontaneously 
over  the  grave  of  a  public  benefactor,  is  a  more  eloquent 
testimonial  of  his  worth,  and  of  the  affection  and  venera- 
tion of  his  countrymen,  than  the  most  highly-wrought  eu- 
logium  of  the  most  gifted  tongue.  The  heart  is  not  neces- 
sarily the  fountain  of  words,  but  it  is  always  the  source 
of  tears,  whether  of  joy,  gratitude  or  grief.  But  sincere, 
truthful  and  eloquent,  as  they  are,  they  leave  no  perma- 
nent record  of  the  virtues  and  greatness  of  him  on  whose 
tomb  they  are  shed.  As  the  dews  of  heaven  falling  at 
night  are  absorbed  by  the  earth  or  dried  up  by  the  morn- 
ing sun,  so  the  tears  of  a  people,  shed  for  their  benefactor, 
disappear  without  leaving  a  trace  to  tell  to  future  genera- 
tions of  the  services,  sacrifices,  and  virtues  of  him  to 
whose  memory  they  were  a  grateful  tribute.  But  as 
homage  paid  to  virtue  is  an  incentive  to  it,  it  is  right  that 
the  memory  of  the  good,  the  great,  and  noble  of  the  earth 
should  be  preserved  and  honored. 

The  ambition,  Mr.  President,  of  the  truly  great,  is  more 
the  hope  of  living  in  the  memory  and  estimation  of  future 
ages  than  of  possessing  power  in  their  own.  It  is  this 
hope  that  stimulates  them  to  perseverance;  that  enables 
them  to  encounter  disappointment,  ingratitude  and  neg- 
lect, and  to  press  on  through  toils,  privations  and  perils 
to  the  end.  It  was  not  the  hope  of  discovering  a  world,  . 
over  which  he  should  himse  f  exercise  dominion,  that  sus- 
tained COLUMBUS  in  all  his  trials.  It  was  not  for  this  he 
braved  danger,  disappointment,  poverty  and  reproach.  It 

293 


Obsequies  of 


was  not  for  this  he  subdued  his  native  pride,  wandered 
from  kingdom  to  kingdom,  kneeling  at  the  feet  of  princes, 
a  suppliant  for  means  to  prosecute  his  sublime  enterprise. 
It  was  not  for  this,  after  having  at  last  secured  the  patron- 
age of  ISABELLA,  that  he  put  off  in  his  crazy  and  ill-ap- 
pointed fleet  into  unknown  seas,  to  struggle  with  storms 
and  tempests,  and  the  rage  of  a  mutinous  crew.  It  was 
another  and  nobler  kind  of  ambition  that  stimulated  him 
to  contend  with  terror,  superstition  and  despair,  and  to 
press  forward  on  his  perilous  course,  when  the  needle  in 
his  compass,  losing  its  polarity,  seemed  to  unite  with  the 
fury  of  the  elements  and  the  insubordination  of  his  crew 
in  turning  him  back  from  his  perilous  but  glorious  under- 
taking. It  was  the  hope  which  was  realized  at  last,  when 
his  ungrateful  country  was  compelled  to  inscribe,  as  an 
epitaph  on  his  tomb — 

"  Columbus  fjas  gttien  a  ndn  toorlti  to  tfje  funtjtioms  of  Castilf  anb  iLcon," 

that  enabled  him,  at  first,  to  brave  so  many  disappoint- 
ments, and  at  last,  to  conquer  the  multitude  of  perils  that 
beset  his  pathway  on  the  deep.  This,  sir,  is  the  ambition 
of  the  truly  great — not  to  achieve  present  fame,  but  future 
immortality.  This  being  thf  case,  it  is  befitting  here  to- 
day, to  add  to  the  life  of  HENRY  CLAY  the  record  of  his 
death,  signalized  as  it  is  by  a  nation's  gratitude  and  grief. 
It  is  right  that  posterity  should  learn  from  us,  the  contem- 
poraries of  the  illustrious  deceased,  that  his  virtues  and 
services  were  appreciated  by  his  country,  and  acknowl- 
edged by  the  tears  of  his  countrymen  poured  out  upon 
his  grave. 

The  career  of  HENKY  CLAY  was  a  wonderful  one.  And 
what  an  illustration  of  the  excellence  of  our  institutions 
would  a  retrospect  of  his  life  afford !  Born  in  an  humble 

294 


station,  without  any  of  the  adventitious  aids  of  fortune  by 
which  the  obstructions  on  the  road  to  fame  are  smoothed, 
he  rose,  not  only  to  the  most  exalted  eminence  of  position, 
but  likewise  to  the  highest  place  in  the  affections  of  his 
countrymen.  Taking  into  view  the  disadvantages  of  his 
early  position,  disadvantages  against  which  he  had  always 
to  contend,  his  career  is  without  a  parallel  in  the  history 
of  great  men.  To  have  seen  him  a  youth,  without  friends 
or  fortune,  and  with  but  a  scanty  education,  who  would 
have  ventured  to  predict  for  him  a  course  so  brilliant  and 
beneficent,  and  a  fame  so  well  deserved  and  enduring  ? 
Like  the  pine,  which  sometimes  springs  up  amidst  the 
rocks  on  the  mountain  side,  with  scarce  a  crevice  in  which 
to  fix  its  roots,  or  soil  to  nourish  them,  but  which,  never- 
theless, overtops  all  the  trees  of  the  surrounding  forest, 
HENRY  CLAY,  by  his  own  inherent,  self-sustaining  energy 
and  genius,  rose  to  an  altitude  of  fame  almost  unequaled 
in  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  As  an  orator,  legislator  and 
statesman,  he  had  no  superior.  All  his  faculties  were 
remarkable,  and  in  remarkable  combination.  Possessed 
of  a  brilliant  genius  and  fertile  imagination,  his  judgment 
was  sound,  discriminating  and  eminently  practical.  Of 
an  ardent  and  impetuous  temperament,  he  was  nevertheless 
persevering  and  firm  of  purpose.  Frank,  bold  and  intrep- 
id, he  was  cautious  in  providing  against  the  contingencies 
and  obstacles  which  might  possibly  rise  up  in  the  road  to 
success.  Generous,  liberal,  and  entertaining  broad  and 
expanded  views  of  national  policy,  in  his  legislative  course 
he  never  transcended  the  limits  of  a  wise  economy. 

But.  Mr.  President,  of  all  his  faculties,  that  of  making 
friends  and  attaching  them  to  him  was  the  most  remarka- 
ble and  extraordinary.  In  this  respect,  he  seemed  to  pos- 

295 


sess  a  sort  of  fascination,  by  which  all  who  came  into  his 
presence  were  attracted  toward,  and  bound  to  him  by 
ties  which  neither  time  nor  circumstances  had  power  to 
dissolve  or  weaken.  In  the  admiration  of  his  friends  was 
the  recognition  of  the  divinity  of  intellect;  in  their 
attachment  to  him  a  confession  of  his  generous  personal 
qualities  and  social  virtues. 

Of  the  public  services  of  Mr.  CLAY,  the  present  occasion 
affords  no  room  for  a  sketch  more  extended  than  that 
which  his  respected  colleague  [Mr.  UNDERWOOD]  has  pre- 
sented. It  is,  however,  sufficient  to  say,  that  for  more 
than  forty  years  he  has  been  a  prominent  actor  in  the 
drama  of  American  affairs.  During  the  late  war  with 
England,  his  voice  was  more  potent  than  any  other  in 
awakening  the  spirit  of  the  country,  infusing  confidence 
into  the  people,  and  rendering  available  the  resources  for 
carrying  on  the  contest.  In  our  domestic  controversies 
threatening  the  peace  of  the  country  and  the  integrity  of 
the  Union,  he  has  always  been  first  to  note  danger  as  well 
as  to  suggest  the  means  of  averting  it.  When  the  waters 
of  the  great  political  deep  were  upheaved  by  the  tempest 
of  discord,  and  the  ark  of  the  Union,  freighted  with  the 
hopes  and  destinies  of  freedom,  tossing  about  on  the 
raging  billows,  and  drifting  every  moment  nearer  to  the 
vortex  which  threatened  to  swallow  it  up,  it  was  his  clarion 
voice,  rising  above  the  storm,  that  admonished  the  crew  of 
impending  peril,  and  counseled  the  way  to  safety. 

But,  Mr.  President,  devotedly  as  he  loved  his  country, 
his  aspirations  were  not  limited  to  its  welfare  alone. 
Wherever  freedom  had  a  votary,  that  votary  had  a  friend 
in  HENRY  CLAY;  and  in  the  struggle  of  the  Spanish  colo- 
nies for  independence  he  uttered  words  of  encouragement 


29fi 


which  have  become  the  mottoes  on  the  banners  of  freedom 
in  every  land.  But  neither  the  services  which  he  has 
rendered  his  own  country,  nor  his  wishes  for  the  welfare 
of  others,  nor  his  genius,  nor  the  affection  of  friends, 
could  turn  aside  the  destroyer.  No  price  could  purchase 
exemption  from  the  common  lot  of  humanity.  HENKY 
CLAY,  the  wise,  the  great,  the  gifted,  had  to  die;  and  his 
history  is  summed  up  in  the  biography  which  the  Russian 
poet  has  prepared  for  all,  kings  and  serfs: 

*     #     *     *     "born,  living,  dying, 
Quitting  the  still  shore  for  the  troubled  wave, 
Struggling  with  storm-clouds,  over  shipwrecks  flying, 
And  casting  anchor  in  the  silent  grave." 

But  though  time  would  not  spare  him,  there  is  still  this 
of  consolation:  he  died  peacefully  and  happy,  ripe  in  re- 
nown, full  of  years  and  of  honors,  and  rich  in  the  affections 
of  his  country.  He  had,  too,  the  unspeakable  satisfaction 
of  closing  his  eyes  whilst  the  country  he  had  loved  so  much 
and  served  so  well,  was  still  in  the  enjoyment  of  peace, 
happiness,  union  and  prosperity — still  advancing  in  all  the 
elements  of  wealth,  greatness  and  power. 

I  know,  Mr.  President,  how  unequal  I  have  been  to  the 
apparently  self-imposed  task  of  presenting,  in  an  appro- 
priate manner,  the  merits  of  the  illustrious  deceased.  But 
if  I  had  remained  silent  on  an  occasion  like  this,  when  the 
hearts  of  my  constituents  are  swelling  with  grief,  I  would 
have  been  disowned  by  them.  It  is  for  this  reason — that 
of  giving  utterance  to  their  feelings  as  well  as  of  my 
own — that  I  have  trespassed  on  the  time  of  the  Senate. 
I  would  that  I  could  have  spoken  fitter  words;  but,  such 
as  they  are,  they  were  uttered  by  the  tongue  in  response 
to  the  promptings  of  the  heart. 


U'l^vMjllicS   Of 


Mr.  SEWARD. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  Fifty  years  ago,  HENRY  CLAY,  of  Vir- 
ginia, already  adopted  by  Kentucky,  then  as  youthful  as 
himself,  entered  the  service  of  his  country,  a  representa- 
tive in  the  unpretending  legislature  of  that  rising  state; 
and  having  thenceforward,  with  ardor  and  constancy, 
pursued  the  gradual  paths  of  an  aspiring  change  through 
halls  of  Congress,  Foreign  courts  and  Executive  councils, 
he  has  now,  with  the  cheerfulness  of  a  patriot,  and  the 
serenity  of  a  Christian,  fitly  closed  his  long  and  arduous 
career,  here  in  the  Senate,  in  the  full  presence  of  the  Re- 
public, looking  down  upon  the  scene  with  a'nxicty  and 
alarm,  not  merely  a  Senator  like  one  of  us  who  yet  remain 
in  the  Senate  house,  but  filling  that  character  which, 
though  it  had  no  authority  of  law,  and  was  assigned 
without  suffrage,  AUGUSTUS  CAESAR  nevertheless  declared 
was  above  the  title  of  Emperor,  Primus  inter  Illustres — 
the  Prince  of  the  Senate. 

Generals  are  tried,  Mr.  President,  by  examining  the 
campaigns  they  have  lost  or  won,  and  statesmen  by  re- 
viewing the  transactions  in  which  they  have  been  engaged. 
HAMILTON  would  have  been  unknown  to  us,  had  there  been 
no  Constitution  to  be  created;  as  BRUTUS  would  have  died 
in  obscurity,  had  there  been  no  CAESAR  to  be  slain. 

Colonization,  Revolution,  and  Organization — three  great 
acts  in  the  drama  of  our  national  progress — had  already 
passed  when  the  western  patriot  appeared  on  the  public 
stage.  He  entered  in  that  next  division  of  the  majestic 
scenes  which  was  marked  by  an  inevitable  reaction  of 
political  forces,  a  wild  strife  of  factions  and  ruinous  em- 
barrassments in  our  foreign  relations.  This  transition 
stage  is  always  more  perilous  than  any  other  in  the  career 

293 


it  en  r  ji  Cialj. 


of  nations,  and  especially  in  the  career  of  republics.  It 
proved  fatal  to  the  Commonwealth  in  England.  Scarcely 
any  of  the  Spanish-American  states  have  yet  emerged 
from  it;  and  more  than  once  it  has  been  sadly  signalized 
by  the  ruin  of  the  republican  cause  in  France. 

The  continuous  administration  of  WASHINGTON  and 
JOHN  ADAMS  had  closed  under  a  cloud  which  had  thrown 
a  broad,  dark  shadow  over  the  future;  the  nation  was 
deeply  indebted  at  home  and  abroad,  and  its  credit  was 
prostrate.  The  revolutionary  factions  had  given  place  to 
two  inveterate  parties,  divided  by  a  gulf  which  had  been 
worn  by  the  conflict  in  which  the  Constitution  was  adopted, 
and  made  broader  and  deeper  by  a  war  of  prejudices  con- 
cerning the  merits  of  the  belligerents  in  the  great  Euro- 
pean struggle  that  then  convulsed  the  civilized  world. 
Our  extraordinary  political  system  was  little  more  than 
an  ingenious  theory,  not  yet  practically  established.  The 
union  of  the  states  was  as  yet  only  one  of  compact:  for 
the  political,  social  and  commercial  necessities  to  which  it 
was  so  marvellously  adapted,  and  which,  clustering  thickly 
upon  it,  now  render  it  indissoluble,  had  not  then  been 
broadly  disclosed,  nor  had  the  habits  of  acquiescence  and 
the  sentiments  of  loyalty,  always  slow  of  growth,  fully 
ripened.  The  bark  that  had  gone  to  sea,  thus  unfurnished 
and  untried,  seemed  quite  certain  to  founder  by  reason  of 
its  own  inherent  frailty,  even  if  it  should  escape  unharmed 
in  the  great  conflict  of  nations  which  acknowledged  no 
claims  of  justice  and  tolerated  no  pretensions  of  neutrali- 
ty. Moreover,  the  territory  possessed  by  the  nation  was 
inadequate  to  commercial  exigencies  and  indispensable 
social  expansion;  and  yet  no  provision  had  been  made  for 
enlargement,  nor  for  extending  the  political  system  over 

299 


0bse(jt|ie3  of 


distant  regions,  inhabited  or  otherwise,  which  must  inev- 
itably be  acquired.  Nor  could  any  such  acquisition  be 
made,  without  disturbing  the  carefully-adjusted  balance  of 
powers  among  the  members  of  the  confederacy. 

These  difficulties,  Mr.  President,  although  they  grew 
less  with  time  and  by  slow  degrees,  continued  throughout 
the  whole  life  of  the  statesman  whose  obsequies  we  are 
celebrating.  Be  it  known,  then,  and  I  am  sure  that  his- 
tory will  confirm  the  instruction,  that  Conservatism  was 
the  interest  of  the  nation,  and  the  responsibility  of  its 
rulers,  during  the  period  in  which  he  flourished.  He  was 
ardent,  bold,  generous,  and  even  ambitious;  and  yet,  with 
a  profound  conviction  of  the  true  exigencies  of  the  coun- 
try, like  ALEXANDER  HAMILTON,  he  disciplined  himself 
and  trained  a  restless  nation,  that  knew  only  self-control, 
to  the  rigorous  practice  of  that  often  humiliating  conserv- 
atism which  its  welfare  and  security  in  that  particular 
crisis  so  imperiously  demanded. 

It  could  not  happen,  sir,  to  any  citizen  to  have  acted 
alone,  nor  even  to  have  acted  always  the  most  conspicuous 
part  in  a  trying  period  so  long  protracted.  HENRY  CLAY, 
therefore,  shared  the  responsibilities  of  government,  with 
not  only  his  proper  contemporaries,  but  also  survivors  of 
the  Revolution,  as  well  as  also  many  who  will  succeed 
himself.  Delicacy  forbids  the  naming  of  those  who  retain 
their  places  here,  but  we  may,  without  impropriety,  recall 
among  his  compeers  a  Senator  of  vast  resources  and  inflex- 
ible resolve,  who  has  recently  withdrawn  from  this  cham- 
ber, but  I  trust  not  altogether  from  public  life,  (Mr.  BEN- 
TON;)  and  another,  who,  surpassing  all  his  contomp  m  ries 
within  his  country,  and  even  throughout  the  world,  in 
proper  eloquence  of  the  forum,  now  in  autumnal  years, 


for  a  second  time  dignifies  and  adorns  the  highest  seat  in 
the  Executive  Council,  (Mr.  WEBSTER.)  Passing  by  these 
eminent  and  noble  men,  the  shades  of  CALHOUN,  JOHN 
QUINCY  ADAMS,  JACKSON,  MONROE  and  JEFFERSON  rise  up 
before  us — statesmen  whose  living  and  local  fame  has 
ripened  already  into  historical  and  world  wide  renown. 

Among  geniuses  so  lofty  as  these,  HENRY  CLAY  bore  a 
part  in  regulating  the  constitutional  freedom  of  political 
debate;  establishing  that  long-contested  and  most  import- 
ant line  which  divides  the  sovereignty  of  the  several 
states  from  that  of  the  states  confederated;  asserting  the 
right  of  neutrality,  and  vindicating  it  by  a  war  against 
Great  Britain,  when  that  just  but  extreme  measure  became 
necessary;  adjusting  the  terms  on  which  that  perilous  yet 
honorable  contest  was  brought  to  a  peaceful  close;  per- 
fecting the  army  and  the  navy,  and  the  national  fortifica- 
tions; settling  the  fiscal  and  financial  policy  of  the  gov- 
ernment in  more  than  one  crisis  of  apparently  threatened 
revolution;  asserting  and  calling  into  exercise  the  powers 
of  the  government  for  making  and  improving  internal 
communications  between  the  states;  arousing  and  encour- 
aging the  Spanish-American  colonies  on  this  continent  to 
throw  off  the  foreign  yoke,  and  to  organize  governments 
on  principles  congenial  to  our  own,  and  thus  creating  ex- 
ternal bulwarks  for  our  own  national  defence;  establishing 
equal  and  impartial  peace  and  amity  with  all  existing 
maritime  powers;  and  extending  the  constitutional  organ- 
ization of  government  over  all  the  vast  regions  secured  in 
his  lifetime  by  purchase  or  by  conquest,  whereby  the  pillars 
of  the  republic  have  been  removed  from  the  banks  of  the 
St.  Mary,  to  the  borders  of  the  Rio  Grande,  and  from  the 
margin  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific  coast.  We  may 

301 


Obsequies  of 


not  yet  discuss  here  the  wisdom  of  the  several  measures 
which  have  thus  passed  in  review  before  us,  nor  of  the 
positions  which  the  deceased  statesman  assumed  in  regard 
to  them,  but  we  may,  without  offence,  dwell  upon  the  com- 
prehensive results  of  them  all. 

The  Union  exists  in  absolute  integrity,  and  the  republi- 
can system  is  in  complete  and  triumphant  development. 
Without  having  relinquished  any  part  of  their  individual- 
ity, the  states  have  more  than  doubled  already,  and  are 
increasing  in  numbers  and  political  strength  and  expansion 
more  rapidly  than  ever  before.  Without  having  absorbed 
any  state,  or  having  even  encroached  on  any  state,  the 
confederation  has  opened  itself  so  as  to  embrace  all  the 
new  members  who  have  come,  and  now  with  capacity  for 
further  and  indefinite  enlargements  has  become  fixed,  en. 
during  and  perpetual.  Although  it  was  doubted  only  half 
a  century  ago  whether  our  political  system  could  be  main- 
tained at  all,  and  whether,  if  maintained,  it  could  guaran- 
tee the  peace  and  happiness  of  society,  it  stands  now  con- 
fessed by  the  world  the  form  of  government  not  only  most 
adapted  to  empire,  but  also  most  congenial  with  the  con- 
stitution of  human  nature. 

When  we  consider  that  the  nation  has  been  conducted 
to  this  haven,  not  only  through  stormy  seas,  but  altogether, 
also,  without  a  course  and  without  a  star:  and  when  AVC 
consider,  moreover,  the  sum  of  happiness  that  has  already 
been  enjoyed  by  the  American  people,  and  still  more  the 
influence  which  the  great  achievement  is  exerting  for  the 
advancement  and  melioration  of  the  condition  of  man- 
kind, we  see  at  once  that  it  might  have  satisfied  the  highest 
ambition  to  have  been,  no  matter  how  humbly,  concerned 
in  so  great  transaction. 

302 


fteirlrjr£l-*|. 


Certainly,  sir,  no  one  will  assert  that  HENRY  CLAY,  in 
that  transaction,  performed  an  obscure,  or  even  a  common 
part.  On  the  contrary,  from  the  day  on  which  he  entered 
the  public  service,  until  that  on  which  he  passed  the  gates 
of  death,  he  was  never  a  follower  but  always  a  leader; 
and  he  marshaled  either  the  party  which  sustained  or  that 
which  resisted  every  great  measure,  equally  in  the  Senate 
and  among  the  people.  He  led  where  duty  seemed  to 
him  to  indicate,  reckless  whether  he  encountered  one 
president  or  twenty  presidents;  whether  he  was  opposed 
by  factions  or  even  by  the  whole  people.  Hence  it  has 
happened,  that  although  that  people  are  not  yet  agreed 
among  themselves  on  the  wisdom  of  all,  or  perhaps  of 
even  any  of  his  great  measures,  yet  they  are  nevertheless 
unanimous  in  acknowledging  that  he  was  at  once  the 
greatest,  the  most  faithful  and  the  most  reliable  of  their 
statesmen.  Here  the  effort  at  discriminating  praise  of 
HENRY  CLAY,  in  regard  to  his  public  policy,  must  stop  in 
this  place,  even  on  this  sad  occasion  which  awakens  the 
ardent  liberality  of  his  generous  survivors. 

But  his  personal  qualities  may  be  discussed  without 
apprehension.  What  were  the  elements  of  the  success  of 
that  extraordinary  man  ?  You,  sir,  knew  him  longer  and 
better  than  I,  and  I  would  prefer  to  hear  you  speak  of 
them.  He  was  indeed  eloquent — all  the  world  knows  that. 
He  held  the  keys  to  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,  and  he 
turned  the  wards  within  them  with  a  skill  attained  by  no 
other  master. 

But  eloquence  was  nevertheless  only  an  instrument, 
and  one  of  many  that  he  used.  His  conversation,  his  ges- 
ture, his  very  look  was  persuasive,  seductive,  irresistible. 
And  his  appliance  of  all  these  was  courteous,  patient  and 

303 


Obsequies  °f 


indefatigable.  Defeat  only  inspired  him  with  new  resolu- 
tion. He  divided  opposition  by  his  assiduity  of  address, 
while  he  rallied  and  strengthened  his  own  bands  of  sup- 
porters by  the  confidence  of  success  which,  feeling  himself, 
he  easily  inspired  among  his  followers.  His  affections 
were  high,  and  pure,  and  generous,  and  the  chiefest  among 
them  was  that  which  the  great  Italian  poet  designated  as 
the  charity  of  native  land.  And  in  him  that  charity  was 
an  enduring  and  overpowering  enthusiasm,  and  it  influ- 
enced all  his  sentiments  and  conduct,  rendering  him  more 
impartial  between  conflicting  interests  and  sections  than 
any  other  statesman  who  has  lived  since  the  Revolution. 
Thus,  with  very  great  versatility  of  talent  and  the  most 
catholic  equality  of  favor,  he  identified  every  question, 
whether  of  domestic  administration  or  foreign  policy,  with 
his  own  great  name,  and  so  became  a  perpetual  Tribune  of 
the  people.  He  needed  only  to  pronounce  in  favor  of  a 
measure  or  against  it.  here,  and  immediately  popular  en- 
thusiasm, excited  as  by  a  magic  wand,  was  felt,  overcoming 
all  opposition  in  the  senate  chamber. 

In  this  way  he  wrought  a  change  in  our  political  system, 
that  I  think  was  not  foreseen  by  its  founders.  He  con- 
verted this  branch  of  the  legislature  from  a  negative 
position,  or  one  of  equilibrium  between  the  executive  and 
the  house  of  representatives,  into  the  active  ruling  power 
of  the  republic.  Only  time  can  disclose  whether  this 
great  innovation  shall  be  beneficent  or  even  permanent. 
Certainly,  sir,  the  great  lights  of  the  senate  have  set. 
The  obscuration  is  not  less  palpable  to  the  country  than 
to  us,  who  are  left  to  grope  our  uncertain  way  here,  as  in 
a  labyrinth,  oppressed  with  self-distrust.  The  times,  too, 
present  new  embarrassments.  We  arc  rising  to  another 

304 


it  ^  -H'  M     -   t  H  U 


and  a  more  sublime  stage  of  natural  progress — that  of 
expanding  wealth  and  rapid  territorial  aggrandizement. 
Our  institutions  throw  a  broad  shadow  across  the  St. 
Lawrence,  and  stretching  beyond  the  valley  of  Mexico, 
reaches  even  to  the  plains  of  Central  America;  while  the 
Sandwich  Islands  and  the  shores  of  China  recognize  its 
renovating  influence.  Wherever  that  influence  is  felt,  a 
desire  for  protection  under  those  institutions  is  awakened. 
Expansion  seems  to  be  regulated,  not  by  any  difficulties  of 
resistance,  but  by  the  moderation  which  results  from  our 
own  internal  constitution.  No  one  knows  how  rapidly 
that  restraint  may  give  way.  Who  can  tell  how  far  or 
how  fast  it  ought  to  yield.  Commerce  has  brought  the 
ancient  continents  near  to  us,  and  created  necessities  for 
new  positions — perhaps  connections  or  colonies  there — 
and  with  the  trade  and  friendship  of  the  elder  nations 
their  conflicts  and  collisions  are  brought  to  our  doors  and 
to  our  hearts.  Our  sympathy  kindles,  our  indifference 
extinguishes,  the  fire  of  freedom  in  foreign  lands.  Before 
we  shall  be  fully  conscious  that  a  change  is  going  on  in 
Europe,  we  may  find  ourselves  once  more  divided  by  that 
eternal  line  of  separation  that  leaves  on  the  one  side  those 
of  our  citizens  who  obey  the  impulses  of  sympathy,  while 
on  the  other  are  found  those  who  submit  only  to  the  coun- 
sels of  prudence.  Even  prudence  will  soon  be  required  to 
decide  whether  distant  regions,  east  and  west,  shall  come 
under  our  own  protection,  or  be  left  to  aggrandize  a  rap- 
idly spreading  and  hostile  domain  of  despotism. 

Sir,  who  among  us  is  equal  to  these  mighty  questions  ? 
I  fear  there  is  no  one.  Nevertheless,  the  example  of 
HENRY  CLAY  remains  for  our  instruction.  His  genius  has 
passed  to  the  realms  of  light,  but  his  virtues  still  live  here 


•20 


305 


0bgg(|t|ie§  of 

for  our  emulation.  With  them  there  will  remain  also  the 
protection  and  favor  of  the  Most  High,  if,  by  the  practice 
of  justice,  and  the  maintenance  of  freedom  we  shall  de- 
serve it.  Let,  then,  the  bier  pass  on.  With  sorrow,  but 
not  without  hope,  we  will  follow. the  revered  form  that  it 
bears  to  its  final  resting-place;  and  then,  when  that  grave 
opens  at  our  feet  to  receive  such  an  inestimable  treasure, 
we  will  invoke  the  GOD  of  our  fathers  to  send  us  new 
guides,  like  him  that  is  now  withdrawn,  and  give  us  wis- 
dom to  obey  their  instruction. 


Mr.  JONES,  of  Iowa. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  Of  the  vast  number,  who  mourn  the 
departure  of  the  great  man  whose  voice  has  so  often  been 
heard  in  this  hall,  I  have  peculiar  cause  to  regret  that 
dispensation  which  has  removed  him  from  among  us.  He 
was  the  guardian  and  director  of  my  collegiate  days;  four 
of  his  sons  were  my  college-mates  and  my  warm  friends. 
My  intercourse  with  the  father  was  that  of  a  youth  and  a 
friendly  adviser.  I  shall  never  cease  to  feel  grateful  to 
him — to  his  now  heart-stricken  and  bereaved  widow  and 
children,  for  their  many  kindnesses  to  me  during  four  or 
five  years  of  my  life.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  renewing  my 
acquaintance  with  him,  first,  as  a  delegate  in  congress, 
while  he  was  a  member  of  this  body  from  1835  to  1839, 
and  again  in  1848,  as  member  of  this  branch  of  congress ; 
and  during  the  whole  of  which  period,  some  eight  years, 
none  but  the  most  kindly  feeling  existed  between  us. 

As  an  humble  and  unimportant  senator,  it  was  my 
fortune  to  co-operate  with  him  throughout  the  whole  of  the 
exciting  session  of  1849-'50 — the  labor  and  excitement 

306 


of  which  is  said  to  have  precipitated  his  decease.  That 
co-operation  did  not  end  with  the  accordant  vote  on  this 
floor,  but,  in  consequence  of  the  unyielding  opposition  to 
the  scries  of  measures  known  as  the  "  Compromise,"  ex- 
tended to  many  private  meetings  held  by  his  friends,  at  all 
of  which  Mr.  CLAY  was  present.  And  whether  in  public 
or  private  life,  he  everywhere  continued  to  inspire  me 
with  the  most  exalted  estimate  of  his  patriotism  and  states- 
manship. Never  shall  I  forget  the  many  ardent  appeals  he 
made  to  senators,  in  and  out  of  the  senate,  in  favor  of 
the  settlement  of  our  then  unhappy  sectional  differences. 

Immediately  after  the  close  of  that  memorable  session 
of  congress,  during  which  the  nation  beheld  his  great  and 
almost  superhuman  efforts  upon  this  floor  to  sustain  the 
wise  counsels  of  the  "  Father  of  his  Country,"  I  accom- 
panied him  home  to  Ashland,  at  his  invitation,  to  revisit 
the  place  where  my  happiest  days  had  been  spent,  with 
the  friends  who  there  continued  to  reside.  During  that, 
to  me,  most  agreeable  and  instructive  journey,  in  many 
conversations  he  evinced  the  utmost  solicitude  for  the 
welfare  and  honor  of  the  Republic,  all  tending  to  show 
that  he  believed  the  happiness  of  the  people  and  the  cause 
of  liberty  throughout  the  world  depended  upon  the  con- 
tinuance of  our  glorious  Union,  and  the  avoidance  of  those 
sectional  dissensions  which  could  but  alienate  the  affections 
of  one  portion  of  the  people  from  another.  With  the 
sincerity  and  fervor  of  a  true  patriot,  he  warned  his  com- 
panions, in  that  journey,  to  withhold  all  aid  from  men  who 
labored,  and  from  every^cause  which  tended  to  sow  the 
seeds  of  disunion  in  the  land;  and  to  oppose  such,  he 
declared  himself  willing  to  forego  all  the  ties  and"associa- 
tions  of  mere  party. 

301 


At  a  subsequent  period,  sir,  this  friend  of  my  youth,  at 
my  earnest  and  repeated  entreaties,  consented  to  take  a 
sea  voyage  from  New  York  to  Havana.  He  remained  at 
the  latter  place  a  fortnight,  and  then  returned  by  New  Or- 
leans to  Ashland.  That  excursion  by  sea,  he  assured  me, 
contributed  much  to  relieve  him  from  the  sufferings  occa- 
sioned by  the  disease  which  has  just  terminated  his  eventful 
and  glorious  life.  Would  to  Heaven  that  he  could  have 
been  persuaded  to  abandon  his  duties  as  a  senator,  and  to 
have  remained  during  the  past  winter  and  spring  upon  that 
Island  of  Cuba !  The  country  would  not,  now,  perhaps, 
have  been  called  to  mourn  his  loss. 

In  some  matters  of  policy  connected  with  the  adminis- 
tration of  our  general  government,  I  have  disagreed  with 
him,  yet  the  purity  and  sincerity  of  his  motives  I  never 
doubted;  and  as  a  true  lover  of  his  country,  as  an  honora- 
ble and  honest  man,  I  trust  his  example  will  be  reverenced 
and  followed  by  the  men  of  this,  and  of  succeeding  gen- 
erations. 


Mr.  BROOKE. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  As  an  ardent,  personal  admirer  and 
political  friend  of  the  distinguished  dead,  I  claim  the 
privilege  of  adding  my  humble  tribute  of  respect  to  his 
memory,  and  of  joining  in  the  general  expression  of  sorrow 
that  has  gone  forth  from  this  chamber.  Death,  at  all 
times,  is  an  instructive  monitor,  as  well  as  a  mournful  mes- 
senger; but  when  his  fatal  shaft  hath  stricken  down  the 
great  in  intellect  and  renown,  how  doubly  impressive  the 
lesson  that  it  brings  home  to  the  heart,  that  the  grave  is 
the  common  lot  of  all — the  great  leveler  of  all  earthly 
distinctions !  But  at  the  same  time  we  are  taught  that  in 

308 


it  en  i* M  t)^ji- 


one  sense  the  good  and  great  caiyiever  die;  for  thejnemory 
of  their  virtues  and  their  bright  example  will  live  through 
all  coming  time  in  an  immortality  that  blooms  beyond  the 
grave.  The  consolation  of  this  thought  may  calm  our  sor- 
row; and,  in  the  language  of  one  of  our  own  poets,  it  may 
be  asked: 

"  Why  weep  ye,  then,  for  him.  who  having  run 
The  bound  of  man's  appointed  years,  at  last, 
Life's  blessings  all  enjoyed,  life's  labors  done, 

Serenely  to  his  final  rest  has  passed  ; 
While  the  soft  memory  of  his  virtues  yet 
Lingers,  like  twilight  hues  when  the  bright  sun  has  set  ?" 

It  will  be  doing  no  injustice,  sir,  to  the  living  or  the 
dead  to  say,  that  no  better  specimen  of  the  true  American 
character  can  be  found  in  our  history  than  that  of  Mr. 
CLAY.  With  no  adventitious  advantages  of  birth  or  for- 
tune, he  won  his  way  by  the  efforts  of  his  own  genius  to 
the  highest  distinction  and  honor.  Ardently  attached  to 
the  principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  patriotism 
was  with  him  both  a  passion  and  a  sentiment — a  passion 
that  gave  energy  to  his  ambition,  and  a  sentiment  that 
pervaded  all  his  thoughts  and  actions,  concentrating  them 
upon  his  country  as  the  idol  of  his  heart.  The  bold  and 
manly  frankness  in  the  expression  of  his  opinions  which 
always  characterized  him,  has  often  been  the  subject  of 
remark;  and  in  all  his  victories  it  may  be  truly  said  he 
never  "  stooped  to  conquer."  In  his  long  and  brilliant 
political  career,  personal  considerations  never,  for  a  single 
instant,  caused  him  to  swerve  from  the  strict  line  of  duty, 
and  none  have  ever  doubted  his  deep  sincerity  in  that 
memorable  expression  to  Mr.  PRESTON,  "  Sir,  I  had  rather 
be  right  than  be  President." 

309 


This  is  not  the  time  nor  occasion,  sir,  to  enter  into  a 
detail  of  the  public  services  of  Mr.  CLAY,  interwoven 
as  they  are  with  the  history  of  the  country  for  half  a  cen- 
tury; but  I  cannot  refrain  from  adverting  to  the  last 
crowning  act  of  his  glorious  life — his  great  effort  in  the 
Thirty-first  Congress  for  the  preservation  of  the  peace 
and  integrity  of  this  great  Republic,  as  it  was  this  effort 
that  shattered  his  bodily  strength,  and  hastened  the  con- 
summation of  his  death.  The  union  of  the  states,  as  being 
essential  to  our  prosperity  and  happiness,  was  the  para- 
mount proposition  in  his  political  creed,  and  the  slight- 
est symptom  of  danger  to  its  perpetuity  filled  him  with 
alarm,  and  called  forth  all  the  energies  of  his  body  and 
mind.  In  his  earlier  life  he  had  met  this  danger  and 
overcome  it.  In  the  conflict  of  contending  factions  it 
again  appeared;  and  coming  forth  from  the  repose  of  pri- 
vate life,  to  which  age  and  infirmity  had  carried  him,  with 
unabated  strength  of  intellect,  he  again  entered  upon  the 
arena  of  political  strife,  and  again  success  crowned  his 
efforts,  and  peace  and  harmony  were  restored  to  a  dis- 
tracted people.  But,  unequal  to  the  mighty  struggle,  his 
bodily  strength  sank  beneath  it,  and  he  retired  from  the 
field  of  his  glory  to  yield  up  his  life  as  a  holy  sacrifice  to 
his  beloved  country.  It  has  well  been  said  that  peace  has 
its  victories  as  well  as  war;  and  how  bright  upon  the  page 
of  history,  willj  be  the  record  of  this  great  victory  of  in- 
tellect, of  reason,  and  of  moral  suasion,  over  the  spirit  of 
discord  and  sectional  animosities! 

We  this  day,  Mr.  President,  commit  his  memory  to  the 
regard  and  affection  of  his  admiring  countrymen.  It  is  a 
consolation  to  them  and  to  us  to  know  that  he  died  in  full 
possession  of  his  glorious  intellect,  and,  what  is  better,  in 

310 


jL6JtdL£iifc. 

—^—^— —•«——•—•— 

the  enjoyment  of  that  "  peace  which  the  world  can  neither 
give  nor  take  away."  He  sank  to  rest  as  the  full-orbed 
king  of  day,  unshorn  of  a  single  beam,  or  rather  like  the 
planet  of  morning,  his  brightness  was  but  eclipsed  by  the 
opening  to  him  of  a  more  full  and  perfect  day. 

•'  No  waning  of  fire,  no  paling  of  ray, 
But  rising,  still  rising,  as  passing  away. 
Farewell,  gallant  eagle,  thou'rt  buried  in  light — 
God  speed  thee  to  heaven,  lost  star  of  our  night." 

The   resolutions  submitted  by  Mr.  UNDERWOOD,  were 
then  unanimously  agreed  to. 

Ordered,  That  the  Secretary  communicate  these  resolu- 
tions to  the  House  of  Representatives. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  UNDERWOOD, 

Resolved,  That,  as  an  additional  mark  of  respect  to  the 
memory  of  the  deceased,  the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 


Obsc(jt|itsg  of 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 


A  message  was  received  from  the  Senate,  by  ASBURY 
DiCKiN8,Esq.,  its  secretary,  communicating  information  of 
the  death  of  HENRY  CLAY,  late  senator  from  the  state  of 
Kentucky,  and  the  proceedings  of  the  Senate  thereon. 

The  resolutions  of  the  Senate  having  been  read, 

Mr.  BRECKENRIDGE  the  rose  and  said  : 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  I  rise  to  perform  the  melancholy  duty  of 
announcing  to  this  body  the  death  of  HENRY  CLAY,  late  a 
senator  in  congress  from  the  commonwealth  of  Kentucky. 

Mr.  CLAY  expired  at  his  lodgings  in  this  city  yesterday 
morning,  at  seventeen  minutes  past  eleven  o'clock,  in  the 
seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age.  His  noble  intellect  was 
unclouded  to  the  last.  After  protracted  sufferings,  he 
passed  away  without  pain;  and  so  gently  did  the  spirit 
leave  his  frame,  that  the  moment  of  departure  was  not  ob- 
served by  the  friends  who  watched  at  his  bedside.  His  last 
hours  were  cheered  by  the  presence  of  an  affectionate  son; 
and  he  died  surrounded  by  friends  who,  during  his  long 
illness,  had  done  all  that  affection  could  suggest  to  sooth 
his  sufferings. 

Although  this  sad  event  has  been  expected  for  many 
weeks,  the  shock  it  produced,  and  the  innumerable  tributes 

312 


ttenry  tfiqtj. 


of  respect  to  his  memory  exhibited  on  every  side,  and  in 
every  form,  prove  the  depth  of  the  public  sorrow,  and  the 
greatness  of  the  public  loss. 

Imperishably  associated,  as  his  name  has  been,  for  fifty 
years,  with  every  great  event  affecting  the  fortunes  of  our 
country,  it  is  difficult  to  realize  that  he  is  indeed  gone  for- 
ever. It  is  difficult  to  feel  that  we  shall  see  no  more  his 
noble  form  within  these  walls — that  we  shall  hear  no  more 
his  patriot  tones,  now  rousing  his  countrymen  to  vindicate 
their  rights  against  a  foreign  foe;  now  imploring  them 
to  preserve  concord  among  themselves.  "We  shall  see  him 
no  more.  The  memory  and  the  fruits  of  his  services  alone 
remain  to  us.  Amidst  the  general  gloom,  the  capitol  itself 
looks  desolate,  as  if  the  genius  of  the  place  had  departed. 
Already  the  intelligence  has  reached  almost  every  quarter 
of  the  Republic,  and  a  great  people  mourn  with  us,  to-day, 
the  death  of  their  most  illustrious  citizen.  Sympathizing, 
as  we  do,  deeply,  with  his  family  and  friends,  yet  private 
affliction  is  absorbed  in  the  general  sorrow.  The  specta- 
cle of  a  whole  community  lamenting  the  loss  of  a  great 
man,  is  far  more  touching  than  any  manifestation  of  pri- 
vate grief.  In  speaking  of  a  loss  which  is  national,  I  will 
not  attempt  to  describe  the  universal  burst  of  grief  with 
which  Kentucky  will  receive  these  tidings.  The  attempt 
would  be  vain  to  depict  the  gloom  that  will  cover  her 
people,  when  they  know  that  the  pillar  of  fire  is  removed 
which  has  guided  their  footsteps  for  the  life  of  a  gene 
ration. 

It  is  known  to  the  country,  that  from  the  memorable 
session  of  1849-'50,Mr.  CLAY'S  health  gradually  declin  '. 
Although  several  years  of  his  senatorial  term  remained, 
he  did  not  propose  to  continue  in  the  public  service  longer 

313 


Obsequies  of 


than  the  present  session.  He  came  to  Washington  chiefly 
to  defend,  if  it  should  become  necessary,  the  measures 
of  adjustment,  to  the  adoption  of  which  he  so  largely  con- 
tributed; but  the  condition  of  his  health  did  not  allow 
him,  at  any  time,  to  participate  in  the  discussions  of  the 
senate.  Through  the  winter,  he  was  confined  almost 
wholly  to  his  room,  with  slight  changes  in  his  condition, 
but  gradually  losing  the  remnant  of  his  strength.  Through 
the  long  and  dreary  winter,  he  conversed  much  and  cheer- 
fully with  his  friends,  and  expressed  a  deep  interest  in 
public  affairs.  Although  he  did  not  expect  a  restoration 
to  health,  he  cherished  the  hope  that  the  mild  season  of 
spring  would  bring  to  him  strength  enough  to  return  to 
Ashland,  and  die  in  the  bosom  of  his  family.  But,  alas ! 
spring,  that  brings  life  to  all  nature,  brought  no  life  nor 
hope  to  him.  After  the  month  of  March,  his  vital  powers 
rapidly  wasted,  and  for  weeks  he  lay  patiently  awaiting 
the  stroke  of  death.  But  the  approach  of  the  destroyer 
had  no  terrors  for  him.  No  clouds  overhung  his  future. 
He  met  the  end  with  composure,  and  his  pathway  to  the 
grave  was  brightened  by  the  immortal  hopes  which  spring 
from  the  Christian  faith. 

Not  long  before  his  death,  having  just  returned  from 
Kentucky,  I  bore  to  him  a  token  of  affection  from  his  ex- 
cellent wife.  Never  can  I  forget  his  appearance,  his 
manner,  or  his  words.  After  speaking  of  his  family,  his 
friends  and  his  country,  he  changed  the  conversation  to 
his  own  future,  and  looking  on  me  with  his  fine  eye  un- 
dimmed,  and  his  voice  full  of  its  original  compass  and 
melody,  he  said,  "  I  am  not  afraid  to  die,  sir.  I  have 
hope,  faith,  and  some  confidence.  I  do  not  think  any  man 
can  be  entirely  certain  in  regard  to  his  future  state,  but  I 

314 


have  an  abiding  trust  in  the  merits  and  mediation  of  our 
Savior."  It  will  assuage  the  grief  of  his  family  to  know 
that  he  looked  hopefully  beyond  the  tomb,  and  a  Christian 
people  will  rejoice  to  hear  that  such  a  man,  in  his  last 
hours,  reposed  with  simplicity  and  .confidence  upon  the 
promises  of  the  Gospel. 

It  is  the  custom,  on  occasions  like  this,  to  speak  of  the 
parentage  and  childhood  of  the  deceased,  and  to  follow 
him,  step  by  step,  through  life.  I  will  not  attempt  to 
relate  even  all  the  great  events  of  Mr.  CLAY'S  life,  because- 
they  are  familiar  to  the  whole  country,  and  it  would  be 
needless  to  enumerate  a  long  list  of  public  services  which 
form  a  part  of  American  history. 

Beginning  life  as  a  friendless  boy,  with  few  advantages, 
save  those  conferred  by  nature,  while  yet  a  minor,  he  left 
Virginia,  the  state  of  his  birth,  and  commenced  the  prac- 
tice of  law  at  Lexington,  in  Kentucky.  At  a  bar  remark- 
able for  its  numbers  and  talent,  Mr.  CLAY  soon  rose  to 
the  first  rank.  At  a  very  early  age  he  was  elected  from 
the  county  of  Fayette  to  the  General  Assembly  of  Ken- 
tucky, and  was  the  speaker  of  that  body.  Coining  into 
the  senate  of  the  United  States,  for  the  first  time,  in  1806, 
he  entered  upon  a  parliamentary  career,  the  most  brilliant 
and  successful  in  our  annals.  From  that  time  he  remained 
habitually  in  the  public  eye.  As  a  senator,  as  a  member 
of  this  house  and  its  speaker,  as  a  representative  of  his 
country  abroad,  and  as  a  high  officer  in  the  executive  de- 
partment of  the  government,  he  was  intimately  connected, 
for  fifty  years,  with  every  great  measure  of  American 
policy.  Of  the  mere  party  measures  of  this  period,  I  do 
not  propose  to  speak.  Many  of  them  have  passed  away, 
and  are  remembered  only  as  the  occasions  for  the  great 

315 


Mseqqies  of 


intellectual  efforts  which  marked  their  discussion.  Con- 
cerning others,  opinions  are  still  divided.  They  will  go 
into  history,  with  the  reasons  on  either  side  rendered  by 
the  greatest  intellects  of  the  time. 

As  a  leader  in  a  deliberative  body,  Mr.  CLAY  had  no 
equal  in  America.  In  him,  intellect^  person,  eloquence, 
and  courage,  united  to  form  a  character  fit  to  command. 
He  fired  with  his  own  enthusiasm,  and  controlled  by  his 
amazing  will,  individuals  and  masses.  No  reverse  could 
crush  his  spirit,  nor  defeat  reduce  him  to  despair.  Equally 
erect  and  dauntless  in  prosperity  and  adversity,  when  suc- 
cessful, he  moved  to  the  accomplishment  of  his  purposes 
with  severe  resolution;  when  defeated,  he  rallied  his  bro- 
ken bands  around  him,  and  from  his  eagle  eye  shot  along 
their  ranks  the  contagion  of  his  own  courage.  Destined 
for  a -leader,  he  every  where  asserted  his  destiny.  In  his 
long  and  eventful  life  he  came  in  contact  with  men  of  all 
ranks  and  professions,  but  he  never  felt  that  he  was  in  the 
presence  of  a  man  superior  to  himself.  In  the  assemblies 
of  the  people,  at  the  bar,  in  the  senate — everywhere  within 
the  circle  pf  his  personal  presence  he  assumed  and  main- 
tained a  position  of  pre-eminence. 

But  the  supremacy  of  Mr.  CLAY,  as  a  party  leader,  was 
not  his  only,  nor  his  highest  title  to  renown.  That  title 
is  to  be  found  in  the  purely  patriotic  spirit  which,  on  great 
occasions,  always  signalized  his  conduct.  We  have  had 
no  statesman  who,  in  periods  of  real  and  imminent  public 
peril,  has  exhibited  a  more  genuine  and  enlarged  patriot- 
ism than  HENRY  CLAY.  Whenever  a  question  presented 
itself  actually  threatening  the  existence  of  the  Union.  Mr. 
CLAY,  rising  above  the  passions  of  the  hour,  always  exerted 
his  powers  to  solve  it  peacefully  and  honorably.  Although 

316 


more  liable  than  most  men,  from  liis  impetuous  and  ardent 
nature,  to  feel  strongly  the  passions  common  to  us  all,  it 
was  his  rare  faculty  to  be  able  to  subdue  them  in  a  great 
crisis,  and  to  hold,  toward  all  sections  of  the  confederacy, 
the  language  of  concord  and  brotherhood. 

Sir,  it  will  be  a  proud  pleasure  to  every  true  American 
heart  to  remember  the  great  occasions  when  Mr.  CLAY  has 
displayed  a  sublime  patriotism — when  the  ill-temper  en- 
gendered by  the  times,  and  the  miserable  jealousies  of  the 
day,  seemed  to  have  been  driven  from  his  bosom  by  the 
expulsive  power  of  nobler  feelings — when  every  throb  of 
his  heart  was  given  to  his  country;  every  effort  of  his 
intellect  dedicated  to  her  service.  Who  does  not  remem- 
ber the  three  periods  when  the  American  system  of  gov- 
ernment was  exposed  to  its  severest  trials;  and  who  does 
not  know  that  when  history  shall  relate  the  struggle  which 
preceded,  and  the  dangers  which  were  averted  by  the 
Missouri  compromise,  the  Tariff  compromise  of  1832,  and 
the  adjustment  of  1850,  the  same  pages  will  record  the 
genius,  the  eloquence,  and  the  patriotism  of  HENRY  CLAY? 

Nor  was  it  in  Mr.  CLAY'S  nature  to  lag  behind  until 
measures  of  adjustment  were  matured,  and  then  come  for- 
ward to  swell  a  majority.  On  the  contrary,  like  a  bold 
and  real  statesman,  he  was  ever  among  the  first  to  meet 
the  peril,  and^  hazard  his  fame  upon  the  remedy.  It  is 
fresh  in  the  memory  of  us  all  that,  when  lately  the  fury  of 
sectional  discord  threatened  to  sever  the  confederacy,  Mr. 
CLAY,  though  withdrawn  from  public  -life,  and  oppressed 
by  the  burden  of  years,  came  back  to  the  senate — the 
theatre  of  his  glory — and  devoted  the  remnant  of  his 
strength  to  the  sacred  duty  of  preserving  the  union  of  the 
states. 

317 


0bse()i|ias  of 


With  characteristic  courage  he  took  the  lead  in  propos- 
ing a  scheme  of  settlement.  But  while  he  was  willing  to 
assume  the  responsibility  of  proposing  a  plan,  he  did  not, 
with  petty  ambition,  insist  upon  its  adoption  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  other  modes;  but,  taking  his  own  as  a  starting 
point  for  discussion  and  practical  action,  he  nobly  labored 
with  his  compatriots  to  change  and  improve  it  in  such 
form  as  to  make  it  an  acceptable  adjustment.  Throughout 
the  long  and  arduous  struggle  the  love  of  country  expelled 
from  his  bosom  the  spirit  of  selfishness,  and  Mr.  CLAY 
proved,  for  the  third  time,  that  though  he  was  ambitious 
and  loved  glory,  he  had  no  ambition  to  mount  to  fame  on 
the  confusions  of  his  country.  And  this  conviction  is 
lodged  in  the  hearts  of  the  people;  the  party  measures 
and  the  party  passions  of  former  times  have  not,  for  sev- 
eral years,  interposed  between  Mr.  CLAY  and  the  masses 
of  his  countrymen.  After  1850,  he  seemed  to  feel  that  his 
mission  was  accomplished;  and,  during  the  same  period, 
the  regards  and  affections  of  the  American  people  have 
been  attracted  to  him  in  a  remarkable  degree.  For  many 
months,  the  warmest  feelings,  the  deepest  anxieties  of  all 
parties,  centered  upon  the  dying  statesman;  the  glory  of 
his  great  actions  shed  a  mellow  lustre  on  his  declining 
years;  and  to  fill  the  measure  of  his  fame,  his  countrymen, 
weaving  for  him  the  laurel  wreath,  with  common  hands, 
did  bind  it  about  his  venerable  brows,  and  send  him 
crowned,  to  history. 

The  life  of  Mr.  OLAY,  sir,  is  a  striking  example  of  the 
abiding  fame  which  surely  awaits  the  direct  and  candid 
statesman.  The  entire  absence  of  equivocation  or  disguise, 
in  all  his  acts,  was  his  master-key  to  the  popular  heart; 
for  while  the  people  will  forgive  the  errors  of  a  bold  and 


open  nature,  lie  sins  past  forgiveness,  who  deliberately 
deceives  them.  Hence  Mr.  CLAY,  though  often  defeated 
in  his  measures  of  policy,  always  secured  the  respect  of 
his  opponents,  without  losing  the  confidence  of  his  friends. 
He  never  paltered  in  a  double  sense.  The  country  was  never 
in  doubt  as  to  his  opinions  or  his  purposes.  In  all  the 
contests  of  his  time,  his  position  on  great  public  questions 
was  as  clear  as  the  sun  in  a  cloudless  sky.  Sir,  standing 
by  the  grave  of  this  great  man,  and  considering  these 
things,  how  contemptible  does  appear  the  mere  legerde- 
main of  politics !  What  a  reproach  is  his  life  on  that  false 
policy  which  would  trifle  with  a  great  and  upright  people ! 
If  I  were  to  write  his  epitaph,  I  would  inscribe,  as  the 
highest  eulogy,  on  the  stone  which  shall  mark  his  resting- 
place,  "  Here  lies  a  man,  who  was  in  the  public  service 
for  fifty  years,  and  never  attempted  to  deceive  his  coun- 
trymen." 

While  the  youth  of  America  should  imitate  his  noble 
qualities,  they  may  take  courage  from  his  career,  and 
note  the  high  proof  it  affords  that,  under  our  equal  insti- 
tutions, the  avenues  to  honor  are  open  to  all.  Mr.  CLAY 
rose  by  the  force  of  his  own  genius,  unaided  by  power, 
patronage  or  wealth.  At  an  age  when  our  young  men  are 
usually  advanced  to  the  higher  schools  of  learning,  pro- 
vided only  with  the  rudiments  of  an  English  education,  he 
turned  his  steps  to  the  west,  and  amidst  the  rude  collisions 
of  a  border-life,  matured  a  character  whose  highest  exhi- 
bitions were  destined  to  mark  eras  in  his  country's  history. 
Beginning  on  the  frontiers  of  American  civilization,  the 
orphan  boy,  supported  only  by  the  consciousness  of  his  own 
powers,  and  by  the  confidence  of  the  people,  surmounted 
all  the  barriers  of  adverse  fortune,  and  won  a  glorious 

319 


c'')sci)t|ies  of 


name  in  the  annals  of  his  country.  Let  the  generous 
youth,  fired  with  honorable  ambition,  remember  that  the 
American  system  of  government  offers  on  every  hand 
bounties  to  merit.  If,  like  CLAY,  orphanage,  obscurity, 
poverty,  shall  oppress  him;  yet,  if,  like  CLAY,  he  feels  the 
Promethean  spark  within,  let  him  remember  that  his  coun- 
try, like  a  generous  mother,  extends  her  arms  to  welcome 
and  to  cherish  every  one  of  her  children  whose  genius 
and  worth  may  promote  her  prosperity  or  increase  her 
renown. 

Mr.  Speaker,  the  signs  of  woe  around  us,  and  the  gen- 
eral voice,  announce  that  another  great  man  has  fallen. 
Our  consolation  is  that  he  was  not  taken  in  the  vigor  of 
his  manhood,  but  sank  into  the  grave  at  the  close  of  a  long 
and  illustrious  career.  The  great  statesmen  who  have 
filled  the  largest  space  in  the  public  eye,  one  by  one  are 
passing  away.  Of  the  three  great  leaders  of  the  senate 
one  alone  remains,  and  he  must  follow  soon.  We  shall 
witness  no  more  their  intellectual  struggles  in  the  Ameri- 
can forum ;  but  the  monuments  of  their  genius  will  be 
cherished  as  the  common  property  of  the  people,  and  their 
names  will  continue  to  confer  dignity  and  renown  upon 
their  country. 

Not  less  illustrious  than  the  greatest  of  these  will  be 
the  name  of  CLAY — a  name  pronounced  with  pride  by 
Americans  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe;  ,a  name  to  be 
remembered  while  history  shall  record  the  struggles  of 
modern  Greece  for  freedom,  or  the  spirit  of  liberty  burn 
in  the  South  American  bosom;  a  living  and  immortal 
name — a  name  that  would  descend  to  posterity  without 
the  aid  of  letters,  borne  by  tradition  from  generation  to 
generation.  Every  memorial  of  such  a  man  will  possess 

320 


it  t>  iM'  t|    O  M  i| 

HTW..   ... 

••Ml^^^MMMMMMMMH^^ 

a  meaning  and  a  value  to  his  countrymen.  His  tomb  will 
be  a  hallowed  spot.  Great  memories  will  cluster  there, 
and  his  countrymen,  as  they  visit  it,  may  well  exclaim — • 

"  Such  graves  as  his  are  pilgrim  shrines, 
Shrines  to  no  creed  or  code  confined ; 
The  Delphian  vales,  the  Palestines, 
The  Meccas  of  the  mind." 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  offer  the  following  resolutions: 

Resolved,  That  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States,  has  received,  with  the  deepest  sensibility, 
intelligence  of  the  death  of  HENRY  CLAY. 

Resolved,  That  the  officers  and  members  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  will  wear  the  usual  badge  of  mourning 
for  thirty  days,  as  a  testimony  of  the  profound  respect 
this  House  entertains  for  the  memory  of  the  deceased. 

Resolved,  That  the  officers  and  members  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  in  a  body,  will  attend  the  funeral  of 
HENRY  CLAY,  on  the  day  appointed  for  that  purpose  by 
th.e  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

Resolved,  That  the  proceedings  of  this  House,  in  relation 
to  the  death  of  HENRY  CLAY,  be  communicated  to  the 
family  of  the  deceased,  by  the  clerk. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  for  the 
memory  of  the  deceased,  this  House  do  now  adjourn. 


Mr.  EWING  rose,  and  said: 

A  noble  heart  has  ceased  to  beat  forever.  A  long  life 
of  brilliant  and  self-devoted  public  service  is  finished  at 
last.  We  now  stand  at  its  conclusion,  looking  back 
through  the  changeful  history  of  that  life  to  its  beginning, 

21  321 


contemporaneous  with  the  very  birth  of  the  Republic,  and 
its  varied  events  mingle,  in  our  hearts  and  our  memories, 
with  the  triumphs  and  calamities,  the  weakness  and  the 
power,  the  adversity  and  prosperity  of  a  country  we  love 
so  much.  As  we  contemplate  this  sad  event,  in  this 
place,  the  shadows  of  the  past  gather  over  us;  the  memo- 
ries of  events  long  gone  crowd  upon  us,  and  the  shades  of 
departed  patriots  seem  to  hover  about  us,  and  wait  to  re- 
ceive into  their  midst  the  spirit  of  one  who  was  worthy  to 
be  a  colaborer  with  them  in  a  common  cause,  and  to  share 
in  the  rewards  of  their  virtues.  Henceforth  he  must  be 
to  us  as  one  of  them. 

They  say  he  was  ambitious.  If  so,  it  was  a  grievous 
fault,  and  grievously  has  he  answered  it.  He  has  found 
in  it  naught  but  disappointment.  It  has  but  served  to 
aggravate  the  mortification  of  his  defeats,  and  furnish  an 
additional  lustre  to  the  triumph  of  his  foes.  Those  who 
come  after  us  may,  aye,  they  will,  inquire  why  his  statue 
stands  not  among  the  statues  of  those  whom  men  thought 
ablest  and  worthiest  to  govern. 

But  his  ambition  was  a  high  and  holy  feeling,  unselfish, 
magnanimous.  Its  aspirations  were  for  his  country's 
good,  and  its  triumph  was  his  country's  prosperity. 
Whether  in  honor  or  reproach,  in  triumph  or  defeat, 
that  heart  of  his  never  throbbed  witli  one  pulsation,  save 
for  her  honor  and  her  welfare.  Turn  to  him  in  that  last, 
best  deed,  and  crowning  glory  of  a  life  so  full  of  public 
service  and  of  honor,  when  his  career  of  personal  ambi- 
tion was  finished  forever.  Rejected  again  and  again  by 
his  countrymen;  just  abandoned  by  a  party  which  would 
scarce  have  had  an  existence  without  his  genius,  his  cour- 
age, and  his  labors,  that  great  heart,  ever  firm  and  defiant 


to  the  assaults  of  his  enemies,  but  defenceless  against  the 
ingratitude  of  friends;  doubtless  wrung  with  the  bitterest 
mortification  of  his  life — then  it  was,  and  under  such  cir- 
cumstances as  these  the  gathering  storm  rose  upon  his 
country.  All  eyes  turned  to  him  ;  all  voices  called  for 
those  services  which,  in  the  hour  of  prosperity  and  secu- 
rity, they  had  so  carelessly  rejected.  With  no  misanthropic 
chagrin;  with  no  morose,  selfish  resentment,  he  forgot  all 
but  his  country,  and  that  country  endangered.  He  returns 
to  the  scene  of  his  labors  and  his  fame  which  he  had 
thought  to  have  left  forever.  A  scene — that  American 
senate  chamber — clothed  in  no  gorgeous  drapery,  shrouded 
in  no  superstitious  awe,  or  ancient  reverence  for  hereditary 
power,  but  to  a  reflecting  American  mind  more  full  of 
interest,  or  dignity,  and  of  grandeur,  than  any  spot  on  this 
broad  earth,  not  made  holy  by  religion's  consecrating  seal. 
See  him  as  he  enters  there,  tremblingly,  but  hopefully, 
upon  the  last,  most  momentous,  perhaps  most  doubtful 
conflict  of  his  life.  Sir,  many  a  gay  tournament  has  been 
more  dazzling  to  the  eye  of  fancy,  more  gorgeous  and 
imposing  in  the  display  of  jewelry  and  cloth  of  gold,  in 
the  sound  of  heralds'  trumpets,  in  the  grand  array  of 
princely  beauty  and  of  royal  pride.  Many  a  battle  field 
has  trembled  beneath  a  more  ostentatious  parade  of  human 
power,  and  its  conquerors  have  been  crowned  with  laurels, 
honored  with  triumphs,  and  apotheosized  amid  the  demi- 
gods of  history;  but  to  the  thoughtful,  hopeful,  philan- 
thropic student  of  the  annals  of  his  race,  never  was  there 
a  conflict  in  which  such  dangers  were  threatened,  such 
hopes  imperiled,  or  the  hero  of  which  deserved  a  warmer 
gratitude,  a  nobler  triumph,  or  a  prouder  monument. 
Sir,  from  that  long,  anxious  and  exhausting  conflict,  lie 

323 


never  rose  again.  In  that  last  battle  for  his  country's 
honor  and  his  country's  safety,  he  received  the  mortal 
wound  which  laid  him  low,  and  we  now  mourn  the  death 
of  a  martyred  patriot. 

But  never,  in  all  the  grand  drama  which  the  story 'of 
his  life  arrays,  never  has  he  presented  a  sublimer  or  a 
more  touching  spectacle  than  in  those  last  days  of  his  de- 
cline and  death.  Broken  with  the  storms  of  state,  wounded 
and  scathed  in  many  a  fiery  conflict,  that  aged,  worn  and 
decayed  body,  in  such  mournful  contrast  with  the  never- 
dying  strength  of  his  giant  spirit,  he  seemed  a  proud  and 
sacred,  though  a  crumbling  monument  of  past  glory.  Stand- 
ing among  us,  like  -some  ancient  colossal  ruin  amid  the 
degenerate  and  more  diminutive  structures  of  modern  times, 
its  vast  proportions  magnified  by  the  contrast,  he  reminded 
us  of  those  days  when  there  were  giants  in  the  laud,  and 
we  remembered  that  even  then  there  was  none  whose  prow- 
ess could  withstand  his  arm.  To  watch  him  in  that  slow 
decline,  yielding  with  dignity,  and,  as  it  were,  inch  by 
inch,  to  that  last  enemy,  as  a  hero  yields  to  a  conquering 
foe,  the  glorious  light  of  his  intellect  blazing  still  in  all 
its  wonted  brilliancy,  and  setting  at  defiance  the  clouds 
that  vainly  attempted  to  obscure  it,  he  was  more  full  of 
interest  than  in  the  day  of  his  glory  and  his  power.  There 
are  some  men  whose  brightest  intellectual  emanations  rise 
so  little  superior  to  the  instincts  of  the  animal,  that  we 
are  led  fearfully  to  doubt  that  cherished  truth  of  the  soul's 
immortality,  which,  even  in  despair,  men  press  to  their 
doubting  hearts.  But  it  is  in  the  death  of  such  a  man  as 
he,  that  we  are  reassured  by  the  contemplation  of  a  kin- 
dred, though  superior  spirit,  of  a  soul  which,  immortal, 
like  his  fame,  knows  no  old  age,  no  decay,  no  death. 

324 


rt  i  \)  f  t)   t)  I  i|  t|. 


^d^Jil 


The  wondrous  light  of  his  unmatched  intellect  may  have 
dazzled  a  world;  the  eloquence  of  that  inspired  tongue 
may  have  enchanted  millions,  but  there  are  few  who  have 
sounded  the  depths  of  that  noble  heart.  To  see  him  in 
sickness  and  in  health,  in  joy  and  in  sadness,  in  the  silent 
watches  of  the  night  and  in  the  busy  day-time — this  it  was 
to  know  and  love  him.  To  see  the  impetuous  torrent  of 
that  resistless  will;  the  hurricane  of  those  passions  hushed 
in  peace,  breathe  calmly  and  gently  as  a  summer  zephyr; 
to  feel  the  gentle  pressure  of  that  hand  in  the  grasp  of 
friendship,  which,  in  the  rage  of  fiery  conflict,  would  hurl 
scorn  and  defiance  at  his  foe;  to  see  that  eagle  eye,  which 
oft  would  burn  with  patriotic  ardor,  or  flash  with  the 
lightning  of  his  anger,  beam  with  the  kindliest  expressions 
of  tenderness  and  affection — then  it  was,  and  then  alone, 
we  could  learn  to  know  and  feel  that  that  heart  was 
warmed  by  the  same  sacred  fire  from  above  which  enkindled 
the  light  of  his  resplendent  intellect.  In  the  death  of 
such  a  man  even  patriotism  itself  might  pause,  and  for  a 
moment  stand  aloof,  while  friendship  shed  a  tear  of  sorrow 
upon  his  bier. 

"  His  life  was  gentle;  and  the  elements 
So  mix'd  in  him,  that  Nature  might  stand  up, 
And  say  to  all  the  world, —  Tins  was  a  man  /" 

But  who  can  estimate  his  country's  loss  ?  What  tongue 
portray  the  desolation  which,  in  this  hour,  throughout  this 
broad  land,  hangs  like  a  gloomy  pall  over  his  grief-stricken 
countrymen  ?  How  poorly  can  words  like  mine  translate 
the  eloquence  of  a  whole  people's  grief  for  a  patriot's 
death.  For  a  nation's  loss  let  a  nation  mourn.  For  that 
stupendous  calamity  to  our  country  and  mankind,  be  the 

325 


Msequieg  of 

Him- 

heavens  hung  with  black;  let  the  wailing  elements  chant 
his  dirge,  and  the  universal  heart  of  man  throb  with  one 
common  pang  of  grief  and  anguish. 


Mr.  CASKIE  said: 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  Unwell  as  I  am,  I  must  try  to  lay  a 
single  laurel  leaf  in  that  open  coffin  which  is  already 
garlanded  by  the  eloquent  tributes  to  the  illustrious 
departed,  which  have  been  heard  in  this  now  solemn 
hall;  for  I  come,  sir,  from  the  district  of  his  birth.  I  rep- 
resent on  this  floor  that  old  Hanover,  so  proud  of  her 
HENRYS — her  PATRICK  HENRY  and  her  HENRY  CLAY.  I 
speak  for  a  people  among  whom  he  has  always  had  as 
earnest  and  devoted  friends  as  were  ever  the  grace  and 
glory  of  a  patriot  and  statesman. 

I  shall  attempt  no  sketch  of  his  life.  That  you  have 
had  from  other  and  abler  hands  than  mine.  Till  yesterday 
that  life  was,  of  his  own  free  gift,  the  property  of  his 
country;  to-day  it  belongs  to  her  history.  It  is  known  to 
all,  and  will  not  be  forgotten.  Constant,  stern  opponent 
of  his  political  school  as  has  been  my  state,  I  say,  for  her, 
that  nowhere  in  this  broad  land  are  his  great  qualities 
more  admired,  or  is  his  death  more  mourned,  than  in 
Virginia.  Well  may  this  be  so;  for  she  is  his  mother,  and 
he  was  her  son. 

Mr.  Speaker,  when  I  remember  the  party  strifes  in 
which  he  was  so  much  mingled,  and  through  which  we  all, 
more  or  less,  have  passed,  and  then  survey  this  scene,  and 
think  how  far,  as  the  lightning  has  borne  the  news  that  he 
is  gone,  half  masted  flags  are  drooping  and  church  bells  are 
tolling,  and  hearts  are  sorrowing,  I  can  but  feel  that  it  is 

326 


good  for  man  to  die.  For  when  Death  enters,  0!  hour 
the  unkindnesses,  and  jealousies,  and  rivalries  of  life  do 
vanish,  and  how,  like  incense  from  an  altar,  do  peace,  and 
friendship,  and  all  the  sweet  charities  of  our  nature,  rise 
around  the  corpse  which  was  once  a  man !  And  of  a 
truth,  Mr.  Speaker,  never  was  more  of  veritable  noble 
manhood  cased  in  mortal  mould  than  was  found  in  him  to 
whose  memory  this  brief  and  humble,  yet  true  and  heart- 
felt tribute  is  paid.  But  his  eloquent  voice  is  hushed,  his 
high  heart  is  stilled.  "  Like  a  shock  of  corn  fully  ripe, 
he  has  been  gathered  to  his  fathers."  With  more  than 
threescore  years  and  ten  upon  him,  and  honors  clustered 
thick  about  him;  in  the  full  possession  of  unclouded  intel- 
lect, and  all  the  consolations  of  Christianity,  he  has  met 
the  fate  which  is  evitable  by  none.  Lamented  by  all  his 
countrymen,  his  name  is  bright  on  Fame's  immortal  roll. 
He  has  finished  his  course,  and  he  has  his  crown.  What 
more  fruit  can  life  bear?  What  can  it  give  that  HENRY 
CLAY  has  not  gained  ? 

Then,  Mr.  Speaker,  around  his  tomb  should  be  heard, 
not  only  the  dirge  that  wails  his  loss,  but  the  jubilant 
anthem  which  sounds  that  on  the  world's  battle  field 
another  victory  has  been  won — another  incontestable  great- 
ness achieved. 


Mr.  CHANDLER,  of  Pennsylvania,  said: 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  It  would  seem  as  if  the  solemn  invocation 
of  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Kentucky,  (Mr.  EWING) 
was  receiving  an  early  answer,  and  that  the  heavens  are 
hung  in  black,  and  the  wailing  elements  are  singing  the 
funeral  dirge  of  HENRY  CLAY.  Amid  this  elemental 

327 


gloom,  and  the  distress  which  pervades  the  nation  at  the 
death  of  HENRY  CLAY,  private  grief  should  not  obtrude 
itself  upon  notice,  nor  personal  anguish  seek  for  utterance. 
Silence  is  the  best  exponent  of  individual  sorrow,  and  the 
heart  that  knoweth  its  own  bitterness,  shrinks  from  an 
exposition  of  its  affliction. 

Could  I  have  consulted  my  own  feelings  on  the  event 
which  occupies  the  attention  of  the  house  at  the  present 
moment,  I  should  even  have  forborne  attendance  here,  and 
in  the  solitude  and  silence  of  my  chamber  have  mused 
upon  the  terrible  lesson  which  has  been  administered  to 
the  people  and  the  nation.  But  I  represent  a  constituency 
who  justly  pride  themselves  upon  the  unwavering  attach- 
ment they"  have  ever  felt  and  manifested  to  HENRY  CLAY 
— a  constant,  pervading,  hereditary  love.  The  son  has 
taken  up  the  father's  affection,  and  amid  all  the  professions 
of  political  attachments  to  others,  whom  the  accidents  of 
party  have  made  prominent,  and  the  success  of  party  has 
made  powerful,  true  to  his  own  instincts,  and  true  to  the 
sanctified  legacy  of  his  father,  he  has  placed  the  name  of 
HENRY  CLAY  forward  and  pre-eminent  as  the  exponent  of 
what  is  greatest  in  statesmanship  and  purest  in  patriotism. 
And  even,  sir,  when'party  fealty  caused  other  attachments 
to  be  avowed  for  party  uses,  the  preference  was  limited  to 
the  occupancy  of  office,  and  superiority  admitted  for  CLAY 
in  all  that  is  reckoned  abovej)arty  estimation. 

Nor  oughfj  to  forbear  to  add  that,  as  the  senior  mem- 
ber of  the  delegation  which  represents  my  commonwealth, 
I  am  requested  to  utter  the  sentiments  of  the  people  of 
Pennsylvania  at  large,  who  yield  to  no  portion  of  this 
great  Union  in  their  appreciation  of  the  talents,  their  rev- 
erence for  the  lofty  patriotism,  their  admiration  of  the 


a 


statesmanship,  and  hereafter  their  love  of  the  memory  of 
HENRY  CLAY. 

I  cannot,  therefore,  be  silent  on  this  occasion  without 
injustice  to  the  affections  of  my  constituency,  even  though 
I  painfully  feel  how  inadequate  to  the  reverence  and  love 
my  people  have  toward  that  statesman  must  be  all  that  I 
have  to  utter  on  this  mournful  occasion. 

I  know  not,  Mr.  Chairman,  where  now  the  nation  is  to 
find  the  men  she  needs  in  peril;  either  other  calls  than 
those  of  politics  are  holding  in  abeyance  the  talents  which 
the  nation  may  need,  or  else  a  generation  is  to  pass  un- 
distinguished by  the  greatness  of  our  statesmen.  Of  the 
noble  minds  that  have  swayed  the  senate,  one  yet  survives 
in  the  maturity  of  powerful  intellect,  carefully  disciplined 
and  nobly  exercised.  May  He,  who  has  thus  far  blessed 
our  nation,  spare  to  her  and  the  world,  that  of  which  the 
world  must  always  envy  our  country  the  possession !  But 
my  business  is  with  the  dead. 

The  biography  of  HENRY  CLAY,  from  his  childhood 
upward,  is  too  familiar  to  every  American  for  me  to  tres- 
pass on  the  time  of  this  house  by  a  reference  directly 
thereto;  and  the  honorable  gentlemen  who  have  preceded 
me  have,  with  affectionate  hand  and  appropriate  delicacy, 
swept  away  the  dust  which  nearly  fourscore  years  have 
scattered  over  a  part  of  the  record,  and  have  made  our 
pride  greater  in  his  life,  and  our  grief  more  poignant  at 
his  death,  by  showing  some  of  those  passages  which  attract 
respect  to  our  republican  institutions,  of  which  Mr.  CLAY'S 
whole  life  was  the  able  support  and  the  most  successful 
illustration. 

It  would,  then,  be  a  work  of  supererogation  for  me  to 
renew  that  effort,  though  inquiry  into  the  life  and  conduct 

329 


of  HENRY  CLAY  would  present  new  themes  for  private 
eulogy,  new  grounds  for  public  gratitude. 

How  rare  is  it,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  the  great  man,  living, 
can  with  confidence  rely  on  extensive  personal  friendship, 
or  dying,  think  to  awaken  a  sentiment  of  regret  beyond 
that  which  includes  the  public  loss  or  the  disappointment 
of  individual  hopes.  Yet,  sir,  the  message  which  yester- 
day went  forth  from  this  city  that  HENRY  CLAY  was  dead, 
brought  sorrow,  personal,  private,  special  sorrow,  to  the 
hearts  of  thousands;  each  of  whom  felt  that  from  his  own 
love  for,  his  long  attachment  to,  his  disinterested  hopes  in, 
HENRY  CLAY,  he  had  a  particular  sorrow  to  cherish  and 
express,  which  weighed  upon  his  heart  separate  from  the 
sense  of  national  loss. 

No  man,  Mr.  Speaker,  in  our  nation,  had  the  art  so  to 
identify  himself  with  public  measures  of  the  most  momen- 
tous character,  and  to  maintain,  at  the  same  time,  almost 
universal  affection,  like  that  great  statesman.  His  busi- 
ness, from  his  boyhood  was  with  national  concerns,  and  he 
dealt  with  them  as  with  familiar  things.  And  yet  his 
sympathies  were  with  individual  interests,  enterprises, 
affections,  joys,  and  sorrows;  and  while  every  patriot 
bowed  in  humble  deference  to  his  lofty  attainments  and 
heart-felt  gratitude  for  his  national  services,  almost  every 
man  in  this  great  Republic  knew  that  the  great  statesman 
was,  in  feeling  and  experience,  identified  with  his  own 
position.  Hence  the  universal  love  of  the  people;  hence 
their  enthusiasm,  in  all  times,  for  his  fame.  Hence,  sir, 
their  present  grief. 

Many  other  public  men  of  our  country  have  distinguished 
themselves  and  brought  honor  to  the  nation  by  superiority 
in  some  peculiar  branch  of  public  service,  but  it  seems  to 


330 


have  been  the  gift  of  Mr.  CLAY  to  have  acquired  peculiar 
eminence  in  every  path  of  duty  he  was  called  to  tread. 
In  the  earnestness  of  debate,  which  great  public  interests 
and  distinguished  opposing  talents  excited  in  this  house, 
he  had  no  superior  in  energy,  force  or  effect.  Yet,  as  the 
presiding  officer,  by  blandness  of  language,  and  firmness 
of  purpose,  he  soothed  and  made  orderly;  and  thus,  by 
official  dignity,  he  commanded  the  respect  which  energy 
had  secured  to  him  on  the  floor. 

Wherever  official  or  social  duties  demanded  an  exercise 
of  his  power,  there  was  a  pre-eminence  which  seemed 
prescriptively  his  own.  In  the  lofty  debate  of  the  senate, 
and  the  stirring  harangues  to  popular  assemblages,  he  was 
the  orator  of  the  nation  and  of  the  people;  and  the  sin- 
cerity of  purpose  and  the  unity  of  design  evinced  in  all 
he  said  or  did,  fixed  in  the  public  mind  a  confidence  strong 
and  expansive  as  the  affections  he  had  won. 

Year  after  year,  sir,  has  HENRY  CLAY  been  achieving 
the  work  of  the  mission  with  which  he  was  intrusted; 
and  it  was  only  when  the  warmest  wishes  of  his  warmest 
friends  were  disappointed,  that  he  entered  on  the  fruition 
of  a  patriot's  highest  hopes,  and  stood  in  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  that  admiration  and  confidence  which  nothing  but 
the  antagonism  of  party  relations  could  have  divided. 

How  rich  that  enjoyment  must  have  been  it  is  only  for 
us  to  imagine.  How  eminently  deserved  it  was,  we  and 
the  world  can  attest. 

The  love  and  the  devotion  of  his  political  friends  were 
cheering  and  grateful  to  his  heart,  and  were  acknowledged 
in  all  his  life — were  recognized  even  to  his  death. 

The  contest  in  the  senate  chamber  or  the  forum  were 
rewarded  with  success  achieved,  and  the  great  victor  could 


0bsec)t|ies  of 


enjoy  the  ovation  which  partial  friendship  or  the  gratitude 
of  the  benefit  prepared.  But  the  triumph  of  his  life  was 
no  party  achievement.  It  was  not  in  the  applause  which 
admiring  friends  and  defeated  antagonists  oifered  to  his 
measureless  success,  that  he  found  the  reward  of  his  la- 
bors, and  comprehended  the  extent  of  his  mission. 

It  was  only  when  friends  and  antagonists  paused  in 
their  contests,  appalled  at  the  public  difficulties  and  na- 
tional dangers  which  had  been  accumulating,  unseen  and 
unregarded;  it  was  only  when  the  nation  itself  felt  the 
danger,  and  acknowledged  the  inefficacy  of  party  action 
as  a  remedy,  that  HENRY  CLAY  calculated  the  full  extent 
of  his  powers,  and  enjoyed  the  reward  of  their  saving 
exercise.  Then,  sir,  you  saw,  and  I  saw,  party  designa- 
tions dropped,  and  party  allegiance  disavowed,  and  anx- 
ious patriots,  of  all  localities  and  name,  turn  toward  the 
country's  benefactor  as  the  man  for  the  terrible  exigencies 
of  the  hour;  and  the  sick  chamber  of  HENRY  CLAY  be- 
came the  Delphos  whence  were  given  out  the  oracles  that 
presented  the  means  and  the  measures  of  our  Union's 
safety.  There,  sir,  and  not  in  the  high  places  of  the  coun- 
try, were  the  labors  and  sacrifices  of  half  a  century  to  be 
rewarded  and  closed.  With  his  right  yet  in  that  senate 
which  he  had  entered  the  youngest,  and  lingered  still  the 
eldest  member,  he  fell,  that  his  work  was  done,  and  the 
object  of  his  life  accomplished.  Every  cloud  that  had 
dimmed  the  noonday  lustre  had  been  dissipated;  and  the 
retiring  orb,  which  sunk  from  the  sight  of  the  nation  in 
fullness  and  beauty,  will  yet  pour  up  the  horizon  a  posthu- 
mous glory  that  shall  tell  of  the  splendor  and  gre 
the  luminary  that  has  passed  away. 


itenrji 


Mr.  BAYLY,  of  Virginia. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  Although  I  have  been  all  my  life  a  polit- 
ical opponent  of  Mr.  CLAY,  yet  from  my  boyhood  I  have 
been  upon  terms  of  personal  friendship  with  him.  More 
than  twenty  years  ago,  I  was  introduced  to  him  by  my 
father,  who  was  his  personal  friend.  From  that  time  to 
this,  there  has  existed  between  us  as  great  personal  inti- 
macy as  the  disparity  in  our  years  and  our  political  differ- 
ence would  justify.  After  I  became  a  member  of  this 
house,  and  upon  his  return  to  the  senate,  subsequent  to  his 
resignation  in  1842,  the  warm  regard,  upon  his  part,  for 
the  daughter  of  a  devoted  friend  of  forty  years'  standing, 
made  him  a  constant  visitor  at  my  house,  and  frequently  a 
guest  at  my  table.  These  circumstances  make  it  proper, 
that  upon  this  occasion,  I  should  pay  this  last  tribute  to 
his  memory.  I  not  only  knew  him  well,  as  a  statesman, 
but  I  knew  him  better  in  most  unreserved  social  inter- 
course. The  most  happy  circumstance,  as  I  esteem  it,  of 
my  political  life,  has  been,  that  I  have  thus  known  each  of 
our  great  congressional  triumvirate. 

I,  sir,  never  knew  a  man  of  higher  qualities  than  Mr. 
CLAY.  His  very  faults  originated  in  high  qualities.  With 
as  great  self-possession,  with  greater  self-reliance  than  any 
man  I  ever  knew,  he  possessed  moral  and  physical  courage 
to  as  high  a  degree  as  any  man  who  ever  lived.  Confident 
in  his  own  judgment,  never  doubting  as  to  his  own  course, 
fearing  no  obstacle  that  might  lie  in  his  way,  it  was  al- 
most impossible  that  he  should  not  have  been  imperious 
in  his  character.  Never  doubting  himself  as  to  what,  in 
his  opinion,  duty  and  patriotism  required  at  his  hands,  it 
was  natural  that  he  should  sometimes  have  been  impatient 

333 


with  those  more  doubting  and  timid  than  himself.  His 
were  qualities  to  have  made  a  great  general,  as  they  were 
qualities  that  did  make  him  a  great  statesman,  and  these 
qualities  were  so  obvious  that,  during  the  darkest  period 
of  our  late  war  with  Great  Britain,  Mr.  MADISON  had  de- 
termined, at  one  time,  to  make  him  general-in-chief  of  the 
American  army. 

Sir,  it  is  but  a  short  time  since  the  American  Congress 
buried  the  first  one  that  went  to  the  grave  of  that  great 
triumvirate.  We  are  now  called  upon  to  bury  another. 
The  third,  thank  GOD  !  still  lives,  and  long  may  he  live  to 
enlighten  his  countrymen  by  his  wisdom,  and  set  them  the 
example  of  exalted  patriotism.  Sir,  in  the  lives  and  char- 
acters of  these  great  men,  there  is  much  resembling  those 
of  the  great  triumvirate  of  the  British  Parliament.  It 
differs  principally  in  this:  BUEKE  preceded  Fox  and  PITT 
to  the  tomb.  WEBSTER  survives  CLAY  and  CALHOUN. 
When  Fox  and  PITT  died,  they  left  no  peer  behind  them. 
WEBSTER  still  lives,  now  that  CALHOUN  and  CLAY  are 
dead,  the  unrivaled  statesman  of  his  country.  Like  Fox 
and  PITT,  CLAY  and  CALHOUN  lived  in  troubled  times. 
Like  Fox  and  PITT,  they  were  each  of  them  the  leader  of 
rival  parties.  Like  Fox  and  PITT  they  were  idolized  by 
their  respective  friends.  Like  Fox  and  PITT,  they  died 
about  the  same  time,  and  in  the  public  service;  and,  as  has 
been  said  of  Fox  and  PITT,  CLAY  and  CALHOUN  died  with 
"  their  harness  upon  them."  Like  Fox  and  PITT — 

"  With  more  than  mortal  powers  endow'd, 
How  high  they  soar'd  above  the  crowd ; 
Theirs  was  no  common  party  race, 
Jostling  by  dark  intrigue  for  place — 
Like  fabled  gods  their  mighty  war 
Shook  realms  and  nations  in  its  jar. 
334 


Beneath  each  banner  proud  to  stand, 
Look'd  up  the  noblest  of  the  land. 


Here  let  their  discord  with  them  die. 
Speak  not  for  those  a  separate  doom  ; 
Whom  fate  made  brothers  in  the  tomb  ; 
But  search  the  land  of  living  men, 
Where  wilt  thou  find  their  like  again  ?' 


Mr.  VENABLE,  said: 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  I  trust  that  I  shall  be  pardoned  for  add- 
ing a  few  words  upon  this  sad  occasion.  The  life  of  the 
illustrious  statesman,  which  has  just  terminated,  is  so  inter- 
woven with  our  history,  and  the  lustre  of  his  great  name 
so  profusely  shed  over  its  pages,  that  simple  admiration  of 
his  high  qualities  might  well  be  my  excuse.  But  it  is  a 
sacred  privilege  to  draw  near;  to  contemplate  the  end  of 
the  great  and  the  good.  It  is  profitable  as  well  as  purify- 
ing to  look  upon  and  realize  the  office  of  death  in  removing 
all  that  can  excite  jealousy  or  produce  distrust,  and  to 
gaze  upon  the  virtues  which,  like  jewrels,  have  survived 
his  powers  of  destruction.  The  light  which  radiates  from 
the  life  of  a  great  and  patriotic  statesman  is  often  dimmed 
by  the  mists  which  party  conflicts  throw  around  it.  But 
the  blast  which  strikes  him  down  purifies  the  atmosphere 
which  surrounded  him  in  life,  and  it  shines  forth  in  bright 
examples  and  well-earned  renown.  It  is  then  that  we 
witness  the  sincere  acknowledgment  of  gratitude  by  a 
people  who,  having  enjoyed  the  benefits  arising  from  the 
services  of  an  eminent  statesman,  embalm  his  name  in 
their  memory  and  hearts.  We  should  cherish  such  recof- 
lections  as  well  from  patriotism  as  self-respect.  Ours,  sir, 
is  now  the  duty,  in  the  midst  of  sadness,  in  this  high  place, 


Obsequies  of 


in  the  face  of  our  Republic,  and  before  the  world,  to  pay 
this  tribute,  by  acknowledging  the  merits  of  our  colleague, 
whose  name  has  ornamented  the  journals  of  congress  for 
nearly  half  a  century.  Few,  very  few,  have  ever  com- 
bined the  high  intellectual  powers  and  distinguished  gifts 
of  this  illustrious  senator.  Cast  in  the  finest  mould  by 
nature,  he  more  than  fulfilled  the  anticipations  which  were 
indulged  by  those  who  looked  to  a  distinguished  career  as 
the  certain  result  of  that  zealous  pursuit  of  fame  and  use- 
fulness upon  which  he  entered  in  early  life.  Of  the  inci- 
dents of  that  life  it  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  speak — they 
are  as  familiar  as  household  words,  and  must  be  equally 
familiar  to  those  who  come  after  us.  But  it  is  useful  to 
refresh  memory  by  recurrence  to  some  of  the  events  which 
marked  his  career.  We  know,  sir,  that  there  is  much  that 
is  in  common  in  the  histories  of  distinguished  men.  The 
elements  which  constitute  greatness  are  the  same  in  all 
times;  hence  those  who  have  been  the  admiration  of  their 
generations  present  in  their  lives  much  which,  although 
really  great,  ceases  to  be  remarkable,  because  illustrated 
by  such  numerous  examples— 

"  But  there  are  deeds  which  should  not  pass  away, 
And  names  that  must  not  wither." 

Of  such  deeds  the  life  of  HENRY  CLAY  affords  many 
and  bright  examples.  His  own  name,  and  those  with 
whom  he  associated,  shall  live  with  a  freshness  which  time 
cannot  impair,  and  shine  with  a  brightness  which  passing 
years  cannot  dim.  His  advent  into  public  life  was  as 
remarkable  for  the  circumstances  as  it  was  brilliant  in  its 
effect.  It  was  at  a  time  in  which  genius  and  learning, 
statesmanship  and  eloquence,  made  the  American  congress 

336 


the  most  august  body  in  the  world.  He  was  the  contem- 
porary of  a  race  of  statesmen,  some  of  whom — then  ad- 
ministering the  government,  and  others  retiring  and 
retired  from  office — presented  an  array  of  ability  unsur- 
passed in  our  history.  The  elder  ADAMS,  JEFFERSON, 
MADISON,  GALLATTN,  CLINTON,  and  MONROE,  stood  before 
the  Republic  in  the  maturity  of  their  fame;  while  CAL- 
HOUN,  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS,  LOWNDES,  RANDOLPH,  CRAW- 
FORD, GASTON  and  CHEVES,  with  a  host  of  others,  rose  a 
bright  galaxy  upon  our  horizon.  He  who  won  his  spurs 
in  such  a  field  earned  his  knighthood.  Distinction  amid 
such  competition  was  true  renown — 

"  The  fame  which  a  man  wins  for  himself  is  best — 
That  he  may  call  his  own." 

It  was  such  a  fame  that  he  made  for  himself  in  that  most 
eventful  era  in  our  history.  To  me,  sir,  the  recollections 
of  that  day,  and  the  events  which  distinguish  it,  is  filled 
with  an  overpowering  interest.  I  never  can  forget  my 
enthusiastic  admiration  of  the  boldness,  the  eloquence,  and 
the  patriotism  of  HENRY  CLAY  during  the  war  of  1812. 
In  the  bright  array  of  talent  which  adorned  the  congress 
of  the  United  States;  in  the  conflict  growing  out  of  the 
political  events  of  that  time;  in  the  struggles  of  party, 
and  amid  the  gloom  and  disasters  which  depressed  the 
spirits  of  most  men,  and  well-nigh  paralyzed  the  energies 
of  the  administration,  his  cheerful  face,  high  bearing, 
commanding  eloquence  and  iron  will,  gave  strength  and 
consistency  to  those  elements  which  finally  gave,  not  only 
•success,  but  glory,  to  the  country.  When  dark  clouds  hov- 
ered over  us,  and  there  was  little  to  save  from  despair, 
the  country  looked  with  hope  to  CLAY  and  CALHOUN,  to 


•21 


337 


LOWNDES,  and  CKAWFOKD,  and  CHEVES,  and  looked  not  in 
vain.  The  unbending  will,  the  unshaken  nerve,  and  the 
burning  eloquence  of  HENKY  CLAY  did  as  much  to  com- 
mand confidence  and  sustain  hope  as  even  the  news  of  our 
first  victory  after  a  succession  of  defeats.  Those  great 
names  are  now  canonized  in  history;  he,  too,  has  passed 
to  join  them  on  its  pages.  Associated  in  his  long  political 
life  with  the  illustrious  CALHOUN,  he  survived  him  but  two 
years.  Many  of  us  heard  his  eloquent  tribute  to  his  mem- 
ory in  the  senate  chamber  on  the  annunciation  of  his 
death.  And  we  this  day  unite  in  a  similar  manifestation 
of  reverential  regard  to  him  whose  voice  shall  never  more 
charm  the  ear,  whose  burning  thoughts,  borne  on  that 
medium,  shall  no  more  move  the  hearts  of  listening  as- 
semblies. 

In  the  midst  of  the  highest  specimens  of  our  race,  he 
was  always  an  equal;  he  was  a  man  among  men.  Bold, 
skillful  and  determined,  he  gave  character  to  the  party 
which  acknowledged  him  as  a  leader;  impressed  his  opin- 
ions upon  their  minds,  and  an  attachment  to  himself  upon 
their  hearts.  No  man,  sir,  can  do  this  without  being  emi- 
nently great.  Whoever  attains  this  position  must  first 
overcome  the  aspirations  of  antagonist  ambition;  quiet 
the  clamors  of  rivalry;  hold  in  check  the  murmurs  of 
jealousy,  and  overcome  the  instincts  of  vanity  and  self- 
love  in  the  masses  thus  subdued  to  his  control.  But  few 
men  ever  attain  it.  Very  rare  are  the  examples  of  those 
whose  plastic  touch  forms  the  minds  and  directs  the  pur- 
poses of  a  great  political  party.  This  infallible  indication 
of  superiority  belonged  to  Mr.  CLAY.  He  has  exercised 
that  control  during  a  long  life;  and  now,  through  our 
broad  land,  the  tidings  of  his  death,  borne  with  electric 


ft  eor  jj  t>l3i|. 


speed,  have  opened  the  fountains  of  sorrow.  Every  city, 
town,  village  and  hamlet  will  be  clothed  with  mourning; 
along  our  extended  coast,  the  commercial  and  military 
marine,  with  flags  drooping  at  half  mast,  own  the  bereave- 
ment; state-houses  draped  in  black  proclaim  the  extin- 
guishment of  one  of  the  great  lights  of  senates;  and 
minute-guns  sound  his  requiem ! 

Sir,  during  the  last  five  years  I  have  seen  the  venerable 
JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS,  JOHN  C.  CALHOUN  and  HENRY  CLAY 
pass  from  among  us,  the  legislators  of  our  country.  The 
race  of  giants  who  "  were  on  the  earth  in  those  days"  is 
well-nigh  gone.  Despite  their  skill,  their  genius,  their 
might,  they  have  sunk  under  the  stroke  of  time.  They 
were  our  admiration  and  our  glory;  a  few  linger  with 
us,  the  monuments  of  former  greatness,  the  beacon-lights 
of  a  past  age.  The  death  of  HENRY  CLAY  cannot  fail  to 
suggest  melancholy  associations  to  each  member  of  this 
house.  These  walls  have  re-echoed  the  silvery  tones  of 
his  bewitching  voice;  listening  assemblies  have  hung  upon 
his  lips.  The  chair  which  you  fill  has  been  graced  by  his 
presence,  while  his  commanding  person  and  unequaled 
parliamentary  attainments  inspired  all  with  deference  and 
respect.  Chosen  by  acclamation  because  of  his  high  qual- 
ifications, he  sustained  himself  before  the  house  and  the 
country.  In  his  supremacy  with  his  party,  and  the  unin- 
terrupted confidence  which  he  enjoyed  to  the  day  of  his 
death,  he  seems  to  have  almost  discredited  the  truth  of 
those  lines  of  the  poet  LABERIUS — 

"  Xon  poisunt  primi  esse  omncs  omni  in  tempore, 
Summum  ad  gradum  cum  claritatis  veneris, 
Consistes  aegre,  et  citius,  quam  ascendas,  cades." 

If  not  at  all  times  first,  he  stood  equal  with  the  fore- 

339 


06se()i|«es  of 


most,  and  a  brilliant  rapid  rise  knew  no  decline  in  the 
confidence  of  those  whose  just  appreciation  of  hisjnerits 
had  confirmed  his  title  to  renown. 

The  citizens  of  other  countries  will  deplore  his  death; 
the  struggling  patriots  who,  on  our  own  continent,  were 
cheered  by  his  sympathies,  and  who  must  have  perceived 
his  influence  in  the  recognition  of  their  independence  by 
this  government,  have  taught  their  children  to  venerate 
his  name.  He  won  the  civic  crown,  and  the  demonstra- 
tions of  this  hour  own  the  worth  of  civil  services. 

It  was  with  great  satisfaction  that  I  heard  my  friend 
from  Kentucky,  [Mr.  BRECKENRIDGE]  the  immediate  rep- 
resentative of  Mr.  CLAY,  detail  a  conversation  which  dis- 
closed the  feelings  of  that  eminent  man  in  relation  to  his 
Christian  hope.  These,  Mr.  Speaker,  are  rich  memorials, 
precious  reminiscences.  A  Christian  statesman  is  the 
glory  of  his  age,  and  his  memory  will  be  glorious  in  after- 
times;  it  reflects  a  light  coming  from  a  source  which 
clouds  cannot  dim  nor  shadows  obscure.  It  was  my  priv- 
ilege, also,  a  short  time  since,  to  converse  with  this  distin- 
guished statesman  on  the  subject  of  his  hopes  in  a  future 
state.  Feeling  a  deep  interest,  I  asked  him  frankly  what 
were  his  hopes  in  the  world  to  which  he  was  evidently 
hastening.  "  I  am  pleased,"  said  he,  "  my  friend,  that  you 
have  introduced  the  subject.  Conscious  that  I  must  die 
very  soon,  I  love  to  meditate  upon  the  most  important  of 
all  interests.  I  love  to  converse  and  to  hear  conversa- 
tions about  them.  The  vanity  of  the  world  and  its  insuf- 
ficiency to  satisfy  the  soul  of  man  has  long  been  a  settled 
'conviction  of  my  mind.  Man's  inability  to  secure,  by  his 
own  merits,  the  approbation  of  GOD,  I  feel  to  be  true.  I 
trust  in  the  atonement  of  the  Savior  of  men  as  the  ground 

340 


of  my  acceptance  and  my  hope  of  salvation.  My  faith  is 
feeble,  but  I  hope  in  His  mercy  and  trust  in  His  promises." 
To  such  declarations  I  listened  with  the  deepest  interest, 
as  I  did  on  another  occasion,  when  he  said:  "  I  am  willing 
to  abide  the  will  of  Heaven,  and  ready  to  die  when  that 
will  shall  determine  it.''7 

He  is  gone,  sir,  professing  the  humble  hope  of  a  Chris- 
tian. That  hope,  alone,  sir,  can  sustain  you,  or  any  of  us. 
There  is  one  lonely  and  crushed  heart  that  has  bowed 
before  this  afflictive  event.  Far  away,  at  Ashland,  a 
widowed  wife,  prevented,  by  feeble  health,  from  attend- 
ing his  bedside  and  soothing  his  painful  hours,  she  has 
thought  even  the  electric  speed  of  the  intelligence  daily 
transmitted  of  his  condition  too  slow  for  her  aching,  anx- 
ious bosom.  She  will  find  consolation  in  his  Christian 
submission,  and  will  draw  all  of  comfort  that  such  a  case 
admits  from  the  assurance  that  nothing  was  neglected  by 
the  kindness  of  friends  which  could  supply  her  place.  May 
the  guardianship  of  the  widow's  GOD  be  her  protection, 
and  His  consolations  her  support ! 

"  All  cannot  be  at  all  times  first, 
To  reach  the  top-most  step  of  glory ;  to  stand  there 
More  hard.     Even  swifter  than  we  mount  we  fall." 


Mr.  HAVEN,  said : 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  Representing  a  constituency  distinguished 
for  the  constancy  of  its  devotion  to  the  political  principles 
of  Mr.  CLAY,  and  for  its  unwavering  attachment  to  his 
fortunes  and  his  pers(  n — sympathizing  deeply  with  those 
whose  more  intimate  personal  relations  with  him  have 
made  them  feel  most  profoundly  this  general  bereavement 

341 


-I  desire  to  say  a  few  words  of  him,  since  lie  has  fallen 
amongst  us.  and  been  taken  to  his  rest. 

After  the  finished  eulogies  which  have  been  so  eloquent- 
ly pronounced  by  the  honorable  gentlemen  who  have  pre- 
ceded me,  I  will  avoid  a  course  of  remark  which  might 
otherwise  be  deemed  a  repetition,  and  refer  to  the  bearing 
of  some  of  the  acts  of  the  deceased  upon  the  interests  and 
destinies  of  my  own  state.  The  influence  of  his  public 
life,  and  of  his  purely  American  character,  the  benefits  of 
his  wise  forecast,  and  the  results  of  his  efforts  for  whole- 
some and  rational  progress,  are  nowhere  more  strongly 
exhibited  than  in  the  state  of  New  York. 

Our  appreciation  of  his  anxiety  for  the  general  diffusion 
of  knowledge  and  education,  is  manifested  in  our  twelve 
thousand  public  libraries,  our  equal  number  of  common 
schools,  .and  a  large  number  of  higher  institutions  of 
learning,  all  of  which  draw  portions  of  their  support 
from  the  share  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands,  which 
his  wise  policy  gave  to  our  state.  Our  whole  people  are 
thus  constantly  reminded  of  their  great  obligations  to  the 
statesman,  whose  death  now  afflicts  the  nation  with  sorrow. 
Our  extensive  public  works,  attest  our  conviction  of  the 
utility  and  importance  of  the  system  of  internal  improve- 
ments he  so  ably  advocated;  and  their  value  and  product- 
iveness, afford  a  most  striking  evidence  of  the  soundness 
and  wisdom  of  his  policy.  Nor  has  his  influence  been  less 
sensibly  felt  in  our  agriculture,  commerce,  and  manufac- 
tures. Every  department  of  human  industry  acknowl- 
edges his  fostering  care,  and  the  people  of  New  York  are 
in  no  small  measure,  indebted  to  his  statesmanship  for  the 
wealth,  comfort,  contentment  and  happiness  so  widely  and 
generally  diffused  throughout  the  state. 

342 


I  P 


it  <j  i)  r  t|  o » y  ti . 


Well  may  New  York  cherish  his  memory  and  acknowl- 
edge, with  gratitude,  the  benefits  that  his  life  has  con- 
ferred. That  memory  will  be  cherished  throughout  the 
Republic. 

When  internal  discord  and  sectional  strife  have  threat- 
ened the  integrity  of  the  Union,  his  just  weight  of  char- 
acter, his  large  experience,  his  powers  of  conciliation  and 
acknowledged  patriotism,  have  enabled  him  to  pacify  the 
angry  passions  of  his  countrymen,  and  to  raise  the  bow  of 
promise  and  of  hope  upon  the  clouds  which  have  darkened 
the  political  horizon. 

He  has  passed  from  amongst  us,  ripe  in  wisdom  and 
pure  in  character — full  of  years  and  full  of  honors — he 
has  breathed  his  last  amidst  the  blessings  of  a  united  and 
grateful  nation.  He  was,  in  my  judgment,  particularly 
fortunate  in  the  time  of  his  death. 

He  lived  to  see  his  country,  guided  by  his  wisdom,  come 
once  again  unhurt,  out  of  trying  sectional  difficulties  and 
domestic  strife;  and  he  has  closed  his  eyes  in  death  upon 
that  country,  whilst  it  is  in  the  enjoyment  of  profound 
peace,  busy  with  industry,  and  blessed  with  unequalcd 
prosperity. 

It  can  fall  to  the  lot  of  but  few  to  die  amidst  so  warm 
a  gratitude  flowing  from  the  hearts  of  their  countrymen; 
and  none  can  leave  a  brighter  example,  or  a  more  endur- 
ing fame. 

Mr.  BROOKS,  of  New  York,  said: 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  I  rise  to  add  my  humble  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  a  great  and  good  man,  now  to  be  gathered  to 
his  fathers.  I  speak  for,  and  from,  a  community  in  whose 
heart  is  enshrined  the  name  of  him  whom  we  mourn:  who, 

343 


however  much  Virginia,  the  land  of  his  birth,  or  Ken- 
tucky, the  land  of  his  adoption,  may  love  him,  is,  if  possi- 
ble, loved  where  I  live,  yet  more.  If  idolatry  had  been 
Christian,  or  allowable  even,  he  would  have  been  our  idol. 
But  as  it  is,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  now,  his  bust,  his 
portrait,  or  some  medal,  has  been  one  of  our  household 
gods,  gracing  not  alone  the  saloons  and  the  halls  of 
wealth,  but  the  humblest  room  or  work -shop  of  almost 
every  mechanic  or  laborer.  Proud  monuments  of  his 
policy  as  a  statesman,  as  my  colleague  has  justly  said,  are 
all  about  us;  and  we  owe  to  him,  in  a  good  degree,  our 
growth,  our  greatness,  our  prosperity  and  happiness  as  a 
people. 

The  great  field  of  HENRY  CLAY,  Mr.  Speaker,  has  been 
here,  on  the  floor  of  this  house,  and  in  the  other  wing  of 
the  capitol.  He  has  held  other  posts  of  higher  nominal 
distinction,  but  they  are  all  eclipsed  by  the  brilliancy  of 
his  career  as  a  congressman.  What  of  glory  he  has  ac- 
quired, or  what  most  endear  him  to  his  countrymen,  have 
been  won,  here,  amid  these  pillars,  under  these  domes  of 
the  capitol. 

"  Si  quaeris  monumentum,  circumspice." 

The  mind  of  Mr.  CLAY  has  been  the  governing  mind  of 
the  country,  more  or  less,  ever  since  he  has  been  on  the 
stage  of  public  action.  In  a  minority  or  majority — more, 
perhaps,  even  in  a  minority  than  in  a  majority,  he  seems  to 
have  had  some  commission,  divine,  as  it  were,  to  persuade, 
to  convince,  to  govern  other  men.  His  patriotism,  his 
grand  conceptions,  have  created  measures  which  the  secret 
fascination  of  his  manners,  in-doors,  or  his  irresistible  elo- 
quence without,  have  enabled  him,  almost  always,  to  frame 

344 


into  laws.  Adverse  administrations  have  yielded  to  him, 
or  been  borne  down  by  him,  or  he  has  taken  them  captive 
as  a  leader,  and  carried  the  country  and  congress  with 
him.  This  power  he  has  wielded  now  for  nearly  half  a 
century,  with  nothing  but  reason  and  eloquence  to  back 
him.  And  yet,  when  he  came  here,  years  ago,  he  came  from 
a  then  frontier  state  of  this  Union,  heralded  by  no  loud 
trumpet  of  fame,  nay,  quite  unknown!  unfortified  even  by 
any  position,  social  or  pecuniary; — to  quote  his  own 
words,  "  My  only  heritage  has  been  infancy,  indigence, 
and  ignorance." 

In  these  days,  Mr.  Speaker,  when  mere  civil  qualifica- 
tions for  high  public  places — when  long  civil  training  and 
practical  statesmanship  are  held  subordinate — a  most  dis- 
couraging prospect  would  be  rising  up  before  our  young 
men,  were  ifc  not  for  some  such  names  as  LOWNDES,  CRAW- 
FORD, CLINTON,  GASTON,  CALHOUN,  CLAY,  and  the  like, 
scattered  along  the  pages  of  our  history,  as  stars  or  con- 
stellations along  a  cloudless  sky.  They  shine  forth  and 
show  us,  that  if  the  chief  magistracy  cannot  be  won  by 
such  qualifications,  a  memory  among  men  can  be — a  hold 
upon  posterity,  as  firm,  as  lustrous — nay,  more  imperisha- 
ble. In  the  Capitolium  of  Rome  there  are  long  rows  of 
marble  slabs,  on  which  are  recorded  the  names  of  the  Ro- 
man consuls  ;  but  the  eye  wanders  over  this  wilderness  of 
letters  but  to  light  up  and  kindle  upon  some  CATO  or 
CICERO.  To  win  such  fame,  thus  unsullied,  as  Mr.  CLAY 
has  won,  is  worth  any  man's  ambition.  And  how  was  it 
won  ?  By  courting  the  shifting  gales  of  popularity  ?  No, 
never !  By  truckling  to  the  schemes,  the  arts,  and  seduc- 
tions of  the  demagogue?  Never,  never!  His  hardest 
battles,  as  a  public  man — his  greatest,  most  illustrious 

345 


^'iSiM)t|ies  of 

achievements — have  been  against,  at  first,  an  adverse  pub- 
lic opinion.  To  gain  an  imperishable  name,  he  has  often 
braved  the  perishable  popularity  of  the  moment.  That 
sort  of  courage  which,  in  a  public  man,  I  deem  the  highest 
of  all  courage,  that  sort  of  courage  most  necessary,  under 
our  form  of  government,  to  guide  as  well  as  to  save  a  state, 
Mr.  CLAY  was  possessed  of  more  than  any  public  man  I 
ever  knew.  Physical  courage,  valuable,  indispensable 
though  it  be,  we  share  but  with  the  brute  ;  but  moral 
courage,  to  dare  to  do  right  amid  all  temptations  to  do 
wrong,  is,  as  it  seems  to  me,  the  very  highest  species,  the 
noblest  heroism,  under  institutions  like  ours.  "I  had 
rather  be  right  than  be  President,"  was  Mr.  CLAY'S  sub- 
lime reply  when  pressed  to  refrain  from  some  measure  that 
would  mar  his  popularity.  These  lofty  words  were  the 
clue  of  his  whole  character — the  secret  of  his  hold  upon 
the  heads  as  well  as  hearts  of  the  American  people;  nay, 
the  key  of  his  immortality. 

Another  of  the  keys,  Mr.  Speaker,  of  his  universal  repu- 
tation, was  his  intense  nationality.  When  taunted,  but 
recently,  almost  within  our  hearing,  as  it  were,  on  the  floor 
of  the  Senate  by  a  southern  senator,  as  being  a  southern 
man  unfaithful  to  the  south — his  indignant  but  patriotic 
exclamation  was,  "  I  know  no  south,  no  north,  no  east, 
no  west.  The  country,  the  whole  country,  loved,  rever- 
enced, adored  such  a  man.  The  soil  of  Virginia  may  be 
his  birth-place,  the  sod  of  Kentucky  will  cover  his  grave — 
what  was  mortal  they  claim — but  the  spirit,  the  soul,  the 
genius  of  the  mighty  man,  the  immortal  part,  these  belong 
to  his  country  and  to  his  GOD. 


346 


Tteinry   tUtj 


Mr.  FAULKNER,  of  Virginia,  said: 

Representing,  in  part,  the  state  which  gave  birth  to  that 
distinguished  man  whose  death  has  just  been  announced 
upon  this  floor,  and  having  for  many  years  held  toward 
him  the  most  cordial  relations  of  friendship,  personal  and 
political,  I  feel  that  I  should  fail  to  discharge  an  appro- 
priate duty,  if  I  permitted  this  occasion  to  pass  by  without 
some  expression  of  the  feeling  which  such  an  event  is  so 
well  calculated  to  elicit.  Sir,  this  intelligence  does  not 
fall  upon  our  ears  unexpectedly.  For  months  the  public 
mind  has  been  prepared  for  the  great  national  loss  which 
we  now  deplore;  and  yet,  as  familiar  as  the  daily  and  hourly 
reports  have  made  us  with  his  hopeless  condition  and 
gradual  decline,  and  although 

"  Like  a  shadow  thrown 
Softly  and  sweetly  from  a  passing  cloud, 
Death  fell  upon  him." 

it  is  impossible  that  a  light  of  such  surpassing  splendor 
should  be,  as  it  is  now,  forever  extinguished  from  our  view, 
without  producing  a  shock,  deeply  and  painfully  felt,  to 
the  utmost  limits  of  this  great  Republic.  Sir,  we  all  feel 
that  a  mighty  intellect  has  passed  from  among  us;  but, 
happily  for  this  country,  happily  for  mankind,  not  until  it 
had  accomplished,  to  some  extent,  the  exalted  mission  for 
which  it  had  been  sent  upon  this  earth;  not  until  it  had 
reached  the  full  maturity  of  its  usefulness  and  power;  not 
until  it  had  shed  a  bright  and  radiant  lustre  over  our 
national  renown;  not  until  time  had  enabled  it  to  bequeath 
the  rich  treasures  of  its  thought  and  experience  for  the 
guidance  and  instruction  of  the  present  and  of  succeeding 


generations. 


347 


!r  ^">se Allies  of 


Sir,  it  is  difficult, — it  is  impossible — within  the  limit 
allowed  for  remarks  upon  occasions  of  this  kind,  to  do 
justice  to  a  great  historical  character  like  HENRY  CLAY. 
He  was  one  of  that  class  of  men  whom  SCALIGER  designates 
as  homines  centenarii — men  that  appear  upon  the  earth  but 
once  in  a  century.  His  fame  is  the  growth  of  years,  and 
it  would  require  time  to  unfold  the  elements  which  have 
combined  to  impart  to  it  so  much  of  stability  and  'gran- 
deur. Volumes  have  already  been  written,  and  volumes 
will  continue  to  be  written,  to  record  those  eminent  and 
distinguished  public  services  which  have  placed  him  in  the 
front  rank  of  American  statesmen  and  patriots.  The 
highest  talents,  stimulated  by  a  fervid  and  patriotic  en- 
thusiasm, has  already  and  will  continue  to  exhaust  its 
powers  to  portray  those  striking  and  generous  incidents 
of  his  life — those  shining  and  captivating  qualities  of  his 
heart,  which  have  made  him  one  of  the  most  beloved,  as  he 
was  one  of  the  most  admired,  of  men;  and  yet  the  subject 
itself  will  remain  as  fresh  and  exhaustless  as  if  hundreds 
of  the  best  intellects  of  the  land  had  not  quaffed  the  in- 
spiration of  their  genius  from  the  ever-gushing  and  over- 
flowing fountains  of  his  fame.  It  could  not  be  that  a 
reputation  so  grand  and  collossal  as  that  which  attaches 
to  the  name  of  HENRY  CLAY,  could  rest,  for  its  base,  upon 
any  single  virtue,  however  striking;  nor  upon  any  single 
act,  no  matter  how  marked  or  distinguished.  Such  a 
reputation  as  he  has  left  behind  him,  could  only  be  the 
result  of  a  long  life  of  illustrious  public  service.  And 
such  in  truth  it  was.  For  nearly  half  a  century  he  has 
been  a  prominent  actor  in  all  the  stirring  and  eventful 
scenes  of  American  history,  fashioning  and  moulding  many 
of  the  most  important  measures  of  public  policy  by  his 

348 


iUimi  Clqy. 


bold  and  sagacious  mind,  and  arresting  others  by  his  un- 
conquerable energy  and  resistless  force  of  eloquence.  And 
however  much  the  members  of  this  body  may  differ  in 
opinion  as  to  the  wisdom  of  many  of  his  views  of  national 
domestic  policy,  there  is  not  one  upon  this  floor — no,  sir, 
not  one  in  this  nation — who  will  deny  to  him  frankness 
and  directness  as  a  public  man;  a  genius  for  statesmanship/ 
of  the  highest  order;  extraordinary  capacities  for  public 
usefulness,  and  an  ardent  and  elevated  patriotism,  without 
stain  and  without  reproach. 

In  referring  to  a  career  of  public  service  so  varied  and 
extended  as  that  of  Mr.  CLAY,  and  to  a  character  so  rich 
in  every  great  and  manly  virtue,  it  is  only  possible  to 
glance  at  a  few  of  the  most  prominent  of  those  points  of 
hig  personal  history,  which  have  given  to  him  so  distin- 
guished a  place  in  the  affections  of  his  countrymen. 

In  the  whole  character  of  Mr.  CLAY,  in  all  that  attached 
or  belonged  to  it,  you  find  nothing  that  is  not  essentially 
AMERICAN.  Born  in  the  darkest  period  of  our  revolu- 
tionary struggle;  reared  from  infancy  to  manhood  among 
those  great  minds  which  gave  the  first  impulse  to  that 
mighty  movement,  he  early  imbibed  and  sedulously  cher- 
ished those  great  principles  of  civil  and  political  liberty 
which  he  so  brilliantly  illustrated  in  his  subsequent  life, 
and  which  has  made  his  name  a  watch-word  of  hope  and 
consolation  to  the  oppressed  of  all  the  earth.  In  his 
intellectual  training,  he  was  the  pure  creation  of  our  own 
republican  soil.  Few,  if  any,  allusions  are  to  be  seen  in 
his  speeches  .or  writings,  to  ancient  or  modern  literature, 
or  to  the  thoughts  and  ideas  of  other  men.  His  country, 
its  institutions,  its  policy,  its  interests,  its  destiny,  form 
the  exclusive  topics  of  those  eloquent  harangues  which, 

349 


Obsequies  of 


while  they  are  destitute  of  the  elaborate  finish,  have  all 
the  ardor  and  intensity  of  thought,  the  earnestness  of 
purpose,  the  cogency  of  reasoning,  the  vehemence  of  style, 
and  the  burning  patriotism,  which  mark  the  productions 
of  the  great  Athenian  orator. 

One  of  the  most  distinguishing  characteristics  of  Mr. 
»CLAY,  as  a  public  man,  was  his  loyalty  to  truth  and  to  the 
honest  convictions  of  his  own  mind.  He  deceived  no  man: 
he  would  not  permit  his  own  heart  to  be  deceived  by  any 
of  those  seductive  influences  which  too  often  warp  the 
judgment  of  men  in  public  station.  He  never  paused  to 
consider  how  far  any  step  which  he  was  about  to  take 
would  lead  to  his  own  personal  advancement;  he  never 
calculated  what  he  might  lose  or  what  he  might  gain  by 
his  advocacy  of,  or  his  opposition  to,  any  particular 
measure.  His  single  inquiry  was,  Is  it  right?  Is  it  in 
accordance  with  the  Constitution  of  the  land  ?  "Will  it 
redound  to  the  permanent  welfare  of  the  country  ?  When 
satisfied  upon  these  points,  his  determination  was  fixed; 
his  purpose  was  immovable.  "  I  would  rather  be  right 
than  President,"  was  the  expression  of  his  genuine  feel- 
ings, and  the  principle  by  which  he  was  controlled  in  his 
public  career — a  saying  worthy  of  immortality,  and  proper 
to  be  inscribed  upon  the  heart  of  every  young  man  in 
this  Republic.  And  yet,  sir,  with  all  of  that  personal  and 
moral  intrepidity  which  so  eminently  marked  the  charac- 
ter of  Mr.  CLAY;  with  his  well-known  inflexibility  of 
purpose  and  unyielding  resolution,  such  was  the  genuine 
sincerity  of  his  patriotism,  and  such  his  thorough  compre- 
hension of  those  principles  of  compromise,  upon  which 
the  whole  structure  of  our  government  was  founded,  that 
no  one  was  more  prompt  to  relax  the  rigor  of  his  policy 

350 


Ttenrtj  Ciqij. 


the  moment  he  perceived  that  it  was  calculated  to  disturb 
the  harmony  of  the  states,  or  to  endanger,  in  any  degree, 
the  stability  of  the  government.  With  him  the  love  of 
this  Union  was  a  passion — an  absorbing  sentiment — which 
gave  color  to  every  act  of  his  public  life.  It  triumphed 
over  party;  it  triumphed  over  policy;  it  subdued  the 
natural  fierceness  and  haughtiness  of  his  temper,  and 
brought  him  into  the  most  kindly  and  cordial  relations, 
with  those  who,  upon  all  other  questions,  were  deeply 
and  bitterly  opposed  to  him.  It  has  been  asserted,  sir, 
upon  high  medical  authority,  and  doubtless  with  truth, 
that  his  life  was,  in  all  probability,  shortened  ten  years  by 
the  arduous  and  extraordinary  labors  which  he  assumed 
at  the  memorable  session  of  1850.  If  so,  he  has  added 
the  crowning  glory  of  the  MARTYR  to  the  spotless  fame  of 
the  PATRIOT;  and  we  may  well  hope  that  a  great  national 
pacification,  purchased  at  such  a  sacrifice,  will  long  con- 
tinue to  cement  the  bonds  of  this  now  happy  and  prosper- 
ous Union. 

Mr.  CLAY  possessed,  in  an  eminent  degree,  the  qualities 
of  a  great  popular  leader;  and  history,  I  will  assume  to 
say,  affords  no  example  in  any  republic,  ancient  or  modern, 
of  any  individual  that  so  fearlessly  carried  out  the  convic- 
tions of  his  own  judgment,  and  so  sparingly  flattered  the 
prejudices  of  popular  feeling,  who,  for  so  long  a  period, 
exercised  the  same  controlling  influence  over  the  public 
mind.  Earnest  in  whatever  measure  he  sustained,  fearless 
in  attack — dexterous  in  defence — abounding  in  intellectual 
resource — eloquent  in  debate — of  inflexible  purpose,  and 
with  a  "  courage  never  to  submit  or  yield,"  no  man  ever 
lived  with  higher  qualifications  to  rally  a  desponding 
party,  or  to  lead  an  embattled  host  to  victory.  That  he 


Sol 


(9b  s 


of 


never  attained  the  highest  post  of  honorable  ambition  in 
this  country,  is  not  to  be  ascribed  to  any  want  of  capacity 
as  a  popular  leader,  nor  to  the  absence  of  those  qualities 
which  attract  the  fidelity  and  devotion  of  "troops"  of 
admiring  friends.  It  was  the  fortune  of  NAPOLEON,  at  a 
critical  period  of  his  destiny,  to  be  brought  into  collision 
with  the  star  of  WELLINGTON  ;  and  it  was  the  fortune  of 
HENRY  CLAY  to  have  encountered,  in  his  political  orbit, 
another  great  and  original  mind,  gifted  with  equal  power 
for  commanding  success,  and  blessed  with  more  fortunate 
elements,  concurring  at  the  time,  of  securing  popular 
favor.  The  struggle  was  such  as  might  have  been  antici- 
pated from  the  collision  of  two  such  fierce  and  powerful 
rivals.  For  near  a  quarter  of  a  century  this  great  Repub- 
lic has  been  convulsed  to  its  centre  by  the  divisions  which 
have  sprung  from  their  respective  opinions,  policy  and 
personal  destinies;  and  even  now,  when  they  have  both 
been  removed  to  a  higher  and  a  better  sphere  of  existence, 
and  when  every  unkind  feeling  has  been  quenched  in  the 
triumphs  of  the  grave,  this  country  still  feels,  and  for 
years  will  continue  to  feel,  the  influence  of  those  agita- 
tions to  which  their  powerful  and  impressive  characters 
gave  impulse. 

But  I  must  pause.  If  I  were  to  attempt  to  present  all 
the  aspects  in  which  the  character  of  this  illustrious  man 
will  challenge  the  applause  of  history,  I  should  fatigue 
the  House,  and  violate  the  just  limit  allowed  for  such 
remarks. 

I  cannot,  however,  conclude,  sir,  without  making  some 
more  special  allusion  to  Mr.  CLAY,  as  a  native  of  that 
state  which  I  ha,ve  the  honor  in  part  to  represent  upon  this 
floor.  We  are  all  proud,  and  very  properly  proud,  of  the 

352 


iteiKy  eiity. 


distinguished  men  to  whom  our  respective  states  have 
given  birth.  It  is  a  just  and  laudable  emulation,  and 
one,  in  a  confederated  government  like  ours,  proper  /to  be 
encouraged.  And  while  men,  like  Mr.  CLAY,  very  rapidly 
rise  above  the  confined  limits  of  a  state  reputation,  and 
acquire  a  national  fame,  in  which  all  claim,  and  all  have 
an  equal  interest,  still  there  is  a  propriety  and  fitness  in 
preserving  the  relation  between  the  individual  and  his 
state.  Virginia  has  given  birth  to  a  large  number  of  men 
who  have,  by  their  distinguished  talent  and  services, 
impressed  their  names  upon  the  hearts  and  memories  of 
their  countrymen;  but  certainly,  since  the  colonial  era, 
she  has  given  birth  to  no  man,  who,  in  the  massive  and 
gigantic  proportions  of  his  character,  and  in  the  splendor 
of  his  native  endowments,  can  be  compared  to  HENRY 
CLAY.  At  an  early  age,  he  emigrated  from  his  native 
state,  and  found  a  home  in  Kentucky.  In  a  speech  which 
he  delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1842, — and  which  I  well  remember — upon  the  oc- 
casion of  his  resigning  his  seat  in  that  body,  he  expressed 
the  wish  that,  when  that  event  should  occur,  which  has 
now  clothed  this  city  in  mourning,  and  filled  the  nation 
with  grief,  his  "  earthly  remains  should  be  laid  under  the 
green  sod  of  Kentucky,  with  those  of  her  gallant  and 
patriotic  sons." 

Sir,  however  gratifying  it  might  be  to  us  that  his 
remains  should  be  transferred  to  his  native  soil,  to  there 
mingle  with  the  ashes  of  WASHINGTON,  JEFFERSON,  MADI- 
SON, LEE  and  HENRY,  we  cannot  complain  of  the  very 
natuial  preference  which  he  has  himself  expressed.  If 
Virginia  did  give  him  birth — Kentucky  has  nourished 
him  in  his  manhood — has  freely  lavished  upon  him  her 

23  353 


(9bsec)t(ies  of 


ighcst  honors — has  shielded  him  from  harm  when  the 
clouds  of  calumny  and  detraction  gathered  heavily  and 
loweringly  about  him;  and  she  has  watched  over  his  fame 
with  the  tenderness  and  zeal  of  a  mother.  Sir,  it  is  not 
to  be  wondered  that  he  should  have  expressed  the  wish  he 
did,  to  be  laid  by  the  side  of  her  gallant  and  patriotic  sons. 
Happy  Kentucky !  Happy  in  having  an  adopted  son  so 
worthy  of  her  highest  honors.  Happy,  in  the  unshaken 
fidelity  and  loyalty  with  which,  for  near  half  a  century, 
those  honors  have  been  so  steadfastly  and  gracefully  ac- 
corded to  him. 

Sir,  whilst  Virginia,  in  the  exercise  of  her  own  proper 
judgment,  has  differed  from  Mr.  CLAY  in  some  of  his  views 
of  national  policy,  she  has  never,  at  any  period  of  his  pul- 
lic  career,  failed  to  regard  him  with  pride,  as  one  of  her 
most  distinguished  sons;  to  honor  the  purity  and  the  man- 
liness of  his  character,  and  to  award  to  him  the  high  credit 
of  an  honest  and  sincere  devotion  to  his  country's  welfare. 
And  now,  sir,  that  death  has  arrested  forever  the  pulsa- 
tions of  that  mighty  heart,  and  sealed  in  eternal  silence 
those  eloquent  lips  upon  whose  accents  thousands  have  so 
often  hung  in  rapture,  I  shall  stand  justified  in  saying,  that 
a  wail  of  lamentation  will  be  heard  from  her  people — her 
whole  people — reverberating  through  her  mountains  and 
valleys,  as  deep,  as  genuine,  and  as  sincere  as  that,  which 
I  know,  will  swell  the  noble  hearts  and  the  heaving  bosoms 
of  the  people  of  his  own  cherished,  and  beloved  Kentucky. 

Sir,  as  1  walked  to  the  capitol  this  morning,  every  object 
which  attracted  my  eye,  admonished  me  that  a  nation's 
benefactor  had  departed  from  amongst  us.  He  is  gone! 
HENRY  CLAY,  the  idol  of  his  friends,  the  ornament  of  the 
senate  chamber,  the  pride  of  his  country;  he  whose  prcs- 

334 


ence  gathered  crowds  of  his  admiring  fellow-men  around 
him,  as  if  he  had  been  one  descended  from  above,  has  pass- 
ed forever  from  our  view. 

"His  soul,  enlarged  from  its  vile  bonds,  has  gone 
To  that  REFULGENT  world,  where  it  shall  swim 
In  liquid  light,  and  float  on  seas  of  bliss." 

But  the  memory  of  his  virtues  and  of  his  services  will  be 
gratefully  embalmed  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,  and 
generations  yet  unborn  will  be  taught  to  lisp,  with  rever- 
ence and  enthusiasm,  the  name  of  HENRY  CLAY. 


Mr.  PARKER,  of  Indiana,  said: 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  This  is  a  solemn — a  consecrated  hour. 
And  I  would  not  detain  the  members  of  the  House  from 
indulging  in  the  silence  of  their  own  feelings,  so  grateful 
to  hearts  chastened  as  ours. 

But  I  cannot  restrain  an  expression  from  a  bosom  pained 
with  its  fullness. 

When  my  young  thoughts  first  took  cognizance  of  the 
fact  that  I  have  a  country — my  eye  was  attracted  by  the 
magnificent  proportions  of  HENRY  CLAY. 

The  idea  absorbed  me  then,  that  he  was,  above  all  other 
men,  the  embodiment  of  my  country's  genius. 

I  have  watched  him;  I  have  studied  him;  I  have  admired 
him — and,  GOD  forgive  me !  for  he  was  but  a  man,  "  of  like 
passions  with  us" — I  fear  I  have  idolized  him,  until  this  hour. 

But  he  has  gone  from  among  men;  and  it  is  for  us  now 
to  awake  and  apply  ourselves,  with  renewed  fervor  and 
increased  fidelity,  to  the  welfare  of  the  country  HE  loved 
so  well  and  served  so  truly  and  so  long — the  glorious 
country  yet  saved  to  us  ! 


(S)bse()i!ies  of 


Yes,  HENRY  CLAY  has  fallen,  at  last! — as  the  ripe  oak 
falls  in  the  stillness  of  the  forest.  But  the  verdant  and 
gorgeous  richness  of  his  glories  will  only  fade  and  wither 
from  the  earth,  when  his  country's  history  shall  have  been 
forgotten. 

"  One  generation  passeth  away  and  another  generation 
cometh."  Thus  it  has  been  from  the  beginning,  and  thus 
it  will  be,  until  time  shall  be  no  longer. 

Yesterday  morning,  at  eleven  o'clock,  the  spirit  of 
HENRY  CLAY — so  long  the  pride  and  glory  of  his  own 
country,  and  the  admiration  of  all  the  world — was  yet 
with  us,  though  struggling  to  be  free.  Ere  "  high  noon  " 
came,  it  had  passed  over  "  the  dark  river,"  through  the 
gate,  into  the  celestial  city,  inhabited  by  all  the  "just  men 
made  perfect."  May  not  our  rapt  vision  contemplate  him 
there,  this  day,  in  sweet  communion  with  the  dear  friends 
that  have  gone  before  him? — with  MADISON,  and  JEFFER- 
SON, and  WASHINGTON,  and  HENRY,  and  FRANKLIN — with 
the  eloquent  TULLY,  with  the  "  divine  PLATO,"  with  AARON 
the  Levite,  who  could  "  speak  well " — with  all  the  great 
and  good,  since  and  before  the  flood ! 

His  princely  tread  has  graced  these  aisles  for  the  last 
time.  These  halls  will  wake  no  more  to  the  magic  music 
of  his  voice. 

Did  that  tall  spirit,  in  its  etherial  form,  enter  the  courts 
of  the  upper  sanctuary,  bearing  itself  comparable  with  the 
spirits  there,  as  was  his  walk  among  men  ? 

Did  the  mellifluous  tones  of  his  greeting  there  enrapture 
the  hosts  of  Heaven,  comparably  with  his  strains  "to  stir 
men's  blood  "  on  earth  ? 

Then,  may  we  not  fancy,  when  it  was  announced  to  the 
inhabitants  of  that  better  country,  HE  COMES  !  HE  COMES  ! 

356 


ifeprijgiqjj. 

there  was  a  rustling  of  angel-wings — a  thrilling  joy — up 
there,  only  to  be  witnessed  once  in  an  earthly  age  ? 

Adieu  ! — a  last  adieu  to  thee,  HENRY  CLAY  ! 

The  hearts  of  all  thy  countrymen  are  melted,  on  this 
day,  because  of  the  thought  that  thou  art  gone. 

Could  we  have  held  the  hand  of  the  "  insatiate  archer," 
thou  hadst  not  died;  but  thou  wouldst  have  tarried  with 
us,  in  the  full  grandeur  of  thy  greatness,  until  we  had  no 
longer  need  of  a  country. 

But  we  thank  our  Heavenly  Father  that  thou  wast  given 
to  us;  and  that  thou  didst  survive  so  long. 

We  would  cherish  thy  memory  while  we  live,  as  our 
country's  JEWEL — than  which  none  is  richer.  And  we 
will  teach  our  children  the  lesson  of  matchless  patriotism 
thou  hast  taught  us;  with  the  fond  hope  that  our  LIBERTY 
and  our  UNION  may  only  expire  with 

"tTf)c  last  of  Cartfj." 


Mr.  GENTRY,  of  Tennessee,  said  : 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  I  do  not  rise  to  pronounce  an  eulogy  on 
the  life  and  character  and  public  services  of  the  illustrious 
orator  and  statesman,  whose  death  this  nation  deplores. 
Suitably  to  perform  that  task,  a  higher  eloquence  than  I 
possess  might  essay  in  vain.  The  gushing  tears  of  the  na- 
tion, the  deep  grief  which  oppresses  the  hearts  of  more 
than  twenty  millions  of  people,  constitute  a  more  eloquent 
eulogium  upon  the  life  and  character  and  patriotic  services 
of  HENRY  CLAY,  than  the  power  of  language  can  express. 
In  no  part  of  our  country  is  that  character  more  admired, 
or  those  public  services  more  appreciated,  than  in  the 
state  which  I  have  the  honor,  in  part,  to  represent.  I 

357 


claim  for  the  people  of  that  state  a  full  participation  in 
the  general  woe  which  the  sad  announcement  of  to-day 
will  everywhere  inspire. 


Mr.  BOWIE,  of  Maryland,  said  : 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  I  rise  not  to  utter  the  measured  phrases 
of  premeditated  woe,  but  to  speak  as  my  constituency  would, 
if  they  stood  around  the  grave  now  opening  to  receive  the 
mortal  remains,  not  of  a  statesman  only,  but  of  a  beloved 
friend. 

If  there  is  a  state  in  this  Union,  other  than  Kentucky, 
which  sends  up  a  wail  of  more  bitter  and  sincere  sorrow 
than  another,  that  state  is  Maryland. 

In  her  midst,  the  departed  statesman  was  a  frequent 
and  a  welcome  guest.  At  many  a  board,  and  many  a  fire- 
side, his  noble  form  was  the  light  of  the  eyes,  the  idol  of 
the  heart.  Throughout  her  borders,  in  cottage,  hamlet, 
and  city,  his  name  is  a  household  word,  his  thoughts  are 
familiar  sentences. 

Though  not  permitted  to  be  the  first  at  his  cradle.  Mary- 
land would  be  the  last  at  his  tomb. 

Through  all  the  phases  of  political  fortune,  amid  all  the 
storms  which  darkened  his  career.  Maryland  cherished  him 
in  her  inmost  heart,  as  the  most  gifted,  patriotic,  and  elo- 
quent of  men.  To  this  hour,  prayers  ascend  from  many 
domestic  altars,  evening  and  morning,  for  his  temporal 
comfort  and  eternal  welfare.  In  the  language  of  inspira- 
tion, Maryland  would  exclaim,  "  There  is  a  prince  and  a 
great  man,  fallen  this  day,  in  Israel."  Daughters  of  Amer- 
ica !  weep  for  him  "  who  hath  clothed  you  in  scarlet  and 
fine  linen." 

S58 


"  frein-fl  glqji. 

The  husbandman  at  his  plough,  the  artisan  at  the  anvil, 
and  the  seaman  on  the  mast,  will  pause  and  drop  a  tear 
when  he  hears  CLAY  is  no  more. 

The  advocate  of  freedom  in  both  hemispheres,  he  will  be 
lamented  alike  on  the  shores  of  the  Hellespont  and  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi  and  Orinoco.  The  freed  men  of 
Liberia,  learning  and  practicing  the  art  of  self-government, 
and  civilizing  Africa,  have  lost  in  him  a  patron  and  pro- 
tector, a  father  and  a  friend.  America  mourns  the  eclipse 
of  a  luminary,  which  enlightened  and  illuminated  the  con- 
tinent; the  United  States,  a  counsellor*  of  deepest  wisdom 
and  purest  purpose;  mankind,  the  advocate  of.  human 
rights  and  constitutional  liberty. 


Mr.  WALSH,  of  Maryland,  said  : 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  The  illustrious  man,  whose  death  we  this 
day  mourn,  was  so  long  my  political  leader — so  long  almost 
the  object  of  my  personal  idolatry — that  I  cannot  allow 
that  he  shall  go  down  to  the  grave,  without  a  word  at 
least  of  affectionate  remembrance — without  a  tribute  to  a 
memory  which  will  exact  tribute  as  long  as  a  heart  shall 
be  found  to  beat  within  the  bosom  of  civilized  man,  and 
human  agency  shall  be  adequate,  in  anyform,  to  give  them 
an  expression;  and  even,  sir,  if  I  had  no  heart-felt  sigh 
to  pour  out  here — if  I  had  no  tear  for  that  coffin's  lid,  I 
should  do  injustice  to  those  whose  representative  in  part  I 
am,  if  I  did  not,  in  this  presence,  and  at  this  time,  raise  the 
voice  to  swell  the  accents  of  the  profoundest  public  sorrow. 

The  state  of  Maryland  has  always  vied  with  Kentucky 
in  love  and  adoration  of  his  name.  Her  people  have  gath- 
ered around  him  with  all  the  fervor  of  a  first  affection, 

259 


Obsequies  of 


and  with  more  than  its  duration.  Troops  of  friends  have 
ever  clustered  about  his  pathway  with  a  personal  devotion 
which  each  man  of  them  regarded  as  the  highest  individual 
honor — friends,  sir,  to  whose  fire-sides  the  tidings  of  his 
death  will  go  with  all  the  withering  influences  which  are 
felt  when  household  ties  are  severed. 

I  wish,  sir,  I  could  offer  now  a  proper  memorial  for  such 
a  subject  and  such  an  affection.  But  as  I  strive  to  utter  it, 
I  feel  the  disheartening  influence  of  the  well-known  truth, 
that  in  view  of  death  all  minds  sink  into  triteness.  It 
would  seem,  indeed,  sir,  that  the  great  leveler  of  our  race 
would  vindicate  his  title  to  be  so  considered,  by  making  all 
men  think  alike  in  regard  to  his  visitation — "the  thousand 
thoughts  that  begin  and  end  in  one  " — the  desolation  here 
— the  eternal  hope  hereafter — are  influences  felt  alike  by 
the  lowest  intellect  and  the  loftiest  genius. 

Mr.  Speaker,  a  statesman  for  more  than  fifty  years  in 
the  councils  of  his  country,  whose  peculiar  charge  it  was 
to  see  that  the  Republic  suffered  no  detriment — a  •  patriot 
for  all  times,  all  circumstances,  and  all  emergencies — has 
passed  away  from  the  trials  and  triumphs  of  the  world, 
and  gone  to  his  reward.  Sad  as  are  the  emotions  which 
such  an  event  would  ordinarily  excite,  their  intensity  is 
heightened  by  the  matters  so  fresh  within  the  memories  of 
us  all: 

"  Oh !  think  how  to  his  latest  day, 
When  death,  just  hovering,  claim'd  his  prey, 
With  Palinurus'  unalter'd  mood, 
Firm  at  his  dangerous  post  he  stood, 
Each  call  for  needful  rest  repell'd, 
With  dying  hand  the  rudder  held ; 
Then  while  on  freedom's  thousand  plains 
One  unpolluted  church  remains, 
Whose  peaceful  bells  ne'er  sent  around 
360 


iteory  eisiu. 


The  bloody  tocsin's  maddening  sound, 
But  still,  upon  the  hallow'd  day, 
Convoke  the  swains  to  praise  and  pray, 
While  faith  and  civil  peace  are  dear, 
Greet  his  cold  marble  with  a  tear, 
He  who  preserved  them — CLAY  lies  here.'' 

In  a  character,  Mr.  Speaker,  so  illustrious  and  beautiful, 
it  is  difficult  to  select  any  point  for  particular  notice,  from 
those  which  go  to  make  up  its  noble  proportions  ;  but  we 
may  now,  around  his  honored  grave,  call  to  grateful  recol- 
lection that  invincible  spirit  which  no  personal  sorrow 
could  sully,  and  no  disaster  could  overcome.  Be  assured, 
sir,  that  he  has,  in  this  regard,  left  a  legacy  to  the  young 
men  of  the  Republic,  almost  as  sacred  and  as  clear  as  that 
liberty  of  which  his  life  was  a  blessed  illustration. 

We  can  all  remember,  sir,  when  adverse  political  results 
disheartened  his  friends,  and  made  them  feel  even  as  men 
without  hope,  that  his  own  clarion  voice  was  still  heard 
in  the  purpose  and  the  pursuit  of  right,  as  bold  and  as  elo- 
quent as  when  it  first  proclaimed  the  freedom  of  the  seas, 
and  its  talismanic  tones  struck  off  the  badges  of  bondage 
from  the  lands  of  the  Incas,  and  the  plains  of  Marathon. 

Mr.  Speaker,  in  the  exultation  of  the  statesman  he  did 
not  forget  the  duties  of  the  man.  He  was  an  affectionate 
adviser  on  all  points  wherein  inexperienced  youth  might 
require  counsel.  He  was  a  disinterested  sympathizer  in 
personal  sorrows  that  called  for  consolation.  He  was  ever 
upright  and  honorable  in  all  the  duties  incident  to  his  re- 
lation in  life. 

To  an  existence  so  lovely,  Heaven  in  its  mercy  granted 
a  fitting  and  appropriate  close.  It  was  the  prayer,  Mr. 
Speaker,  of  a  distinguished  citizen,  who  died  some  years 
since  in  the  metropolis,  even  while  his  spirit  was  fluttering 

24  361 


,  etc. 


for  its  final  flight,  that  he  might  depart  gracefully.  It  may 
not  be  presumptuous  to  say,  that  what  was  in  that  instance 
the  aspiration  of  a  chivalric  gentleman,  was  in  this  the  re- 
alization of  the  dying  Christian,  in  which  was  blended  all 
that  human  dignity  could  require,  with  all  that  Divine 
grace  had  conferred;  in  which  the  firmness  of  the  man  was 
only  transcended  by  the  fervor  of  the  penitent. 

A  short  period  before  his  death  he  remarked  to  one  by 
his  bedside,  "  that  he  was  fearful  he  was  becoming  selfish, 
as  his  thoughts  were  entirely  withdrawn  from  the  world, 
and  centered  upon  eternity."  This,  sir,  was  but  the  puri- 
fication of  his  noble  spirit  from  all  the  dross  of  earth — a 
happy  illustration  of  what  the  religious  muse  has  so  sweet- 
ly sung  : 

"  No  sin  to  stain— no  lure  to  stay 

The  soul,  as  home  she  springs  ; 
Thy  sunshine  on  her  joyful  way, 
Thy  freedom  in  her  wings." 

Mr.  Speaker,  tlie  solemnities  of  this  hour  may  soon  be 
forgotten.  We  may  come  back  from  the  new-made  grave 
only  still  to  show  that  we  consider  "  eternity  the  bubble, 
life  and  time  the  enduring  substance."  We  may  not  pause 
long  enough  by  the  brink  to  ask  which  of  us,  revelers  of 
to-day,  shall  next  be  at  rest.  But,  be  assured,  sir,  that 
upon  the  records  of  mortality  will  never  be  inscribed  a 
name  more  illustrious  than  that  of  the  statesman!  patriot, 
and  friend  whom  the  nation  mourns. 


question  was 
lutions  proposed  by 
unanimously  adopted 


> 

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ns 

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